Secrets in the Eyes
by ShewolfAngelus
Summary: Sequel to "Revenge and Redemption". Virgil still wants the world to know what ordinary people can do. The Company wishes to stop him; however, he's hoping to gain Sylar's confidence in order to overpower them. Are the Heroes ready to face their demons?
1. Chapter 1: Safe Haven

Chapter 1: Safe Haven

**8 Months Later**

**Costa Verde- Virgil Dupre**

The restless Cajun checked into the Sleepy Time motel and quickly took out a stack of files from his bag and covered the bed with them.

His cell phone started vibrating and he picked it up, it was Marek.

"What else you've got fer me," he took hold a pen and started to take notes.

"Sylar is responsible for countless murders. You have all the files that I've been able to access from The Company database. Since killing the man in New York there haven't been any murders tied to Sylar. They've also got on here that he has a wife now. Did you know about this?" Marek's voice became concerned.

"I saw 'er through a kitchen windo the last time I was 'ere," Virgil's eyes looked over at the photo was of a man in a suit, "Na'tan Pe'trelli, of course. I'll start with yeh," he said to himself.

"Be careful Virgil, this man is highly dangerous. Isabel is worried about you…we all are," Marek confessed.

"I thank yeh fer your concern. Tell Isabel and the others I'll be home soon and I'll check with yeh tomorrow. Keeping tapping the Company database and let me know if anything enterestn' comes up. Night Marek."

He hanged up the phone and could hear the rain start to fall outside.

Over the past couple of months it was evident that Sylar needed to be forced into joining them, because having him on the other side would mean failure. It wasn't something Virgil wanted to do, but using his abilities to manipulate Sylar's vision might reignite the anger that's still inside him somewhere.

Virgil had been working on this plan while back at home with the others. Marek had a special gift with computers and it was easy to grab files without leaving a trace.

The day that he feared the most was when they'd find their hideout. Suspicious looking men in town led them all to believe that they were close. Now they were prepared, but having a safe location was not something he was willing to give up without a fight.

**Costa Verde- Sylar and Kate**

Sylar was checking his surroundings, it was dark and the asphalt was wet. A shadow ran by him and he started to chase after it.

"Stop!" he shouted to the woman and even tried to use his power, but realized this was a vision, it wasn't real...yet.

For a moment she stopped to turn back, looking right through him. And as Sylar turned around he saw who was chasing her, it was Virgil, the man that had come to his house eight months ago.

When he turned back she was gone, but a loud screaming pierced the silenced and he ran towards it. A man was lying dead by the woman's feet…It wasn't until later that he realized this woman's ability killed him by accident.

"Get away from me! I told you I wasn't interested in working for you. I'm looking for Sylar; he knows what I've been through. I can't control this power." She looked down at the dead man on the street and sighed, "follow me again and you'll end up like him."

Sylar found himself back in bed staring at his reflection in the large closet door mirror.

Kate's nails lightly scratched his back, "Are you okay? You're sweating."

He turned around and faced her, "I saw him going after a woman. It was dark and it looked like downtown Los Angeles, which is not far from here. I'm going to check it out tomorrow night. I don't know her name, or what she can do, but she said my name. She said she was looking for me."

"For you? How? Why would someone want something from you?" Kate tried to sit up but it was greeted by a kick in her stomach, "Ow…I can't wait to have this baby."

"I know. You've been strong Babe." He got up as his mind kept thinking back.

Sylar went over to the window and looked out at the rain, "her ability…it must be what he wants from her. That's why he came here...because he knew that I have power."

"So you're saying he's still building an army. That he's just going to march up to the white house and expose us?"

"Yeah, I do. Bennet and Angela are working on finding their hideout. No luck, but they know he's somewhere in Harvey, Louisiana. None of that matters anyway. Virgil's here and I'm going to take him down. Then we can move on."

Kate put a pillow over her face, "I thought we were through with them...helping them. I don't understand your loyalty to them after what they did to you."

"I still have power over them and they need me, I don't need them." Sylar reflected on that a moment, it was true, but perhaps a tiny part of him still needed them.

**New York City- Peter Petrelli**

Peter and his partner were responding to a three car accident on the Brooklyn Bridge. Every time he went on that bridge painful memories rose within him. He often had strange dreams of people he couldn't recall ever meeting and of pent up rage inside him.

"Dude you alright?" his partner's voice interrupted his thoughts.

"Yeah…just had some trouble sleeping last night."

"Right…" He said not believing Peter's countless excuses for his strange moods. "You should think about taking some time off you know? You've been working nonstop since boss made us partners."

"I'm fine. But you're right….I'll think about it."

When they arrived a woman was helping an older man with a head wound to the curb. Another vehicle was upright, but it looked like it had rolled over during the crash. Inside was a young teen unconscious but there was no visible wounds.

"We've got some head trauma over here," he called out.

With the help of his buddy they were able to get the man out and onto a stretcher. However there was one more car involved and suddenly a spark ignited from leaking gasoline. Flames shot up from the car's engine and were coming close to their victim.

Peter tried to get closer but the heat was too intense. The flames were spreading quickly.

The crowd that had gathered to watch on the bridge started to yell as a blonde haired woman came running. With quick speed she raced to the driver door and pulled it open with her bare hands. The heat of the metal must have burnt her to the bone.

People were screaming for someone to stop her, someone to pull her away from the scene. However no one dared to get close to the flames.

A concerned look was fabricated on Peter's face but it couldn't hide his feeling of surprise.

The badly burned young woman pulled the driver out and his partner took hold of them while Peter wrapped a large blanket around the woman to shield her wounds from the crowd.

"What were you thinking Claire? People can't see you going into flames and coming out unharmed."

"I know. I was just driving and I came to see what was holding up traffic. It was a gut instinct I guess. Is he gonna be alright?" she curiously asked.

"Yeah," he chuckled, "He's going to fine."

Peter's partner came and tapped him on the shoulder, "Come on, we gotta deliver this guy now. Hi Claire," he gave her smile, "Nice work out there."

She grinned back, "Thanks Toby."

Toby and Claire had met while she tried her hand at college. As it turned out Toby was just as special as they were. He could manipulate animals of any kind, which he displayed for them using Mr. Muggles after he went to have dinner with her family.

It was simply luck that brought Toby to Peter and they became good partners on the field as paramedics.

"Shifts over now, let's meet up for lunch once I'm done here?" Peter asked Claire.

She nodded; this was actually why she had come to Manhattan. "Alrighty, let's meet at the usual place then."

"Ok got it. Take care Claire," he said before hopping into the bus and watching her slyly leave the scene.

Peter drove as quickly as he could with Toby in the back stabilizing the driver.

"Dude I still can't believe that's your niece! You sure she's not seeing anyone?" Toby gushed.

Peter laughed it off, "I don't wanna hear it Toby…"

Once they were all done for the day, Peter and Toby parted ways as he left to meet Claire to talk.

After Nathan's funeral they had drifted apart. Claire went to college and he went back into the medical field. They'd meet every once in a while, but it wasn't like before.

Peter sat down at the table and placed his order.

"I'm thinking about taking some time off work and working for the Company again," he confessed. "I've been thinking about it a lot lately. About what we've been through and about the others that are out there and how scared they might be. I want to reach them; I want to tell them that a normal life is possible."

Claire nodded, "I know what you mean Peter. But I tried working there before I went to college and it was too much stress. I can't…give these people hope of a normal life when I know that mine is anything but normal. I was thinking about becoming an activist. I worked at the animal shelter for a couple months. Seeing the abuses of these poor animals that couldn't defend themselves made me sick. I want to do something about it; I think having a purpose to do something that's real is what I need to do."

"Uhh. Yeah I guess," he was a little surprised by her choice. "I think you'd make a great activist Claire, and if you're passionate it about it then do it."

She raised her brow, "what? You think I'm joking?"

"No, I didn't say that! Geeze. Have you even told your dad yet?"

Her eyes shifted away, "No…he's been so busy with work. I don't even think he remembers that I quit school."

Peter felt bad; Noah could get caught up in his work easily. "Oh, speaking of animals, Toby still won't shut up about you," he laughed.

"Still? Oh my god," Claire laughed and at that moment things seemed just like they used to be during better times.

**New York City: 2 hours later- Angela and Noah**

"All the resources this company has and we can't find a group of people in Louisiana?" Angela fired off on her phone to Noah.

"Rural Louisiana. They must have a fortress somewhere in the swamps that can't be reached by car…" Noah explained but she cut him off.

"I'll be sending a team soon to search every inch of that town till we find them. What about the girl? Virgil's possible next target?"

"Well with no name it was difficult. But I have found a woman that matches your description and I'm going to meet her tomorrow."

"Good. I'd use her as bate for Virgil but this one is unstable, if he gets to her first, then we'll never get her back. I gotta go Noah, my son is calling, but call me tomorrow and let me know how it went," she said then clicked to the other line after Noah hanged up.

"Hey Ma."

"Hello Peter, I haven't heard from you in a while."

"Yeah I know. I was thinking…is it possible I could do some work for the Company for a while? I just need a change and I'd like to help."

Angela gave a half a smile, but now really wasn't the time for Peter to decide he wanted back in. She wasn't sure him knowing about Virgil and his plan was such a good idea.

"Well what did you have in mind Peter?"

"I wanna help other people like us. A Safe Haven. I think it would be a good idea; I know that's what I would have wanted when I found out about my abilities. Don't you think it's time we tried to put ourselves out there for them?"

Angela thought this would be a great idea since it would keep Peter busy and also away from the current crisis.

"That's a great idea. I'll come see you tomorrow and we can work this whole thing out. How does that sound?"

Peter was a little confused by how fast she had agreed to this. He wanted to question her about it, but that usually amounted to no good, so he didn't.

"Alright Ma, love you."

"Love you too Peter," she hanged up the phone and Angela got up to make herself a drink.


	2. Chapter 2: The Destiny of the Dying

Chapter 2: The Destiny of the Dying

**The Port of Los Angeles: San Pedro- Virgil Dupre and Sylar**

He left his motel room the next morning to find Sylar; he knew he was working at the Port of Los Angeles. It was a clever job, there was no direct human contact and most of the workers didn't speak English. Although it confused Virgil because Sylar wasn't using his abilities to move containers off the ships and onto awaiting trucks.

At the port he grinned as he got closer to Sylar, but still remained hidden in a sea of large containers. His plan was simple: bring as much confusion and emotion to Sylar as he could.

Sylar was operating a machine and this would be an easy target for Virgil. Using his ability he manipulated Sylar's eyes to see Elle, the woman Sylar had killed but had also fallen in love with. Virgil chuckled as he made her bloody yet alive.

Sylar was entirely focused on not dropping the container once it was in the air, but his eyes caught sight of blonde hair. Pausing only a moment he looked down and saw Elle, she was standing with her hands on her hips looking up at him.

"What the hell…." He breathed out and accidently dropped the container, which crashed to the ground.

Sylar hopped out and ran over to where she was standing, but she was gone.

The other men started running toward the fallen container to see what had gone wrong, but Sylar ignored them and started to run after what he thought was Elle.

"Must be an illusion, Elle is dead…I watched her body burn," he spoke to himself. "What do you want from me?" Sylar said knowing this was the work of someone else.

No one responded. Sylar rubbed his forehead and turned to the scene where people were staring at him for answers.

Suddenly he began to feel guilty; it was an awkward feeling that he pushed aside as he returned to the scene.

"I'm sorry, I'm sorry…" he apologized, "I saw someone who wasn't supposed to be here but they got away."

"You're sorry?" The boss shook his head in disbelief. "You can leave and don't you ever come back."

Sylar felt the urge to strike back, but he put his hand down. When he looked back up at the man he no longer looked like his boss, but was Nathan Petrelli. Standing there. Right in front of him.

"Are you saying I'm fired?" Sylar glared at Petrelli.

"Yeah, you're fired. Now leave before I kick you out of here myself," the man said.

The voice wasn't Nathan's but he still looked like him.

Sylar grinned; Nathan's smiling face made the anger inside him grow.

"Don't worry, I'll leave. But not till I do this," Sylar lifted his hand and threw the boss into a container with so much force his skull cracked open.

All the other men then started running for their lives in utter shock and horror. They yelled in languages that he didn't understand, but he knew they spoke in fear.

Sylar fed off their emotions, the power he had over them now! And after being their bitch for so long.

Virgil smiled from hiding place, Sylar was back. The Sylar he knew would join him once the others would start hunting him again.

Once Sylar started to flee the scene Virgil kept his distance and decided to follow him, but he received a call that changed his plans.

"Marek?"

"Something came up on the radar near you, a woman named Natasha Thomas. I think she's been what you're looking for Virgil. This woman has the ability to take peoples souls! Think about it, without a soul…you're nothing. You see, the body can only go a given amount time without the soul before it starts to deteriorate. The numbers…are different between people, but Natasha can also restore them. I got her file from Homeland Security; they were planning to track her down and bring her to Building 26."

Virgil couldn't be happier; this was the secret weapon he had been waiting for: "Give me her address and I'll pay 'er a visit tonight. Perhaps if I can't get Sylar to join us…at least I can have his soul."

After hanging up the phone he started to wonder how this was going to play out. It was still too early to go after someone such as Natasha since he was still working an angle to get the real Sylar back.

**Westchester Medical Center Valhalla: North White Plains, NY- Noah Bennet**

Noah drove out of Manhattan to visit the woman Angela wanted him to find. She didn't tell him much about the girl, only that Virgil would soon find her and that he was the only person at The Company that could get through to her.

Carrying a fake FBI badge he was able to obtain the record of the woman he described: Jane Doe, whom refers to herself as Lady Lazarus.

The whole ward knew her, but only through rumors as no one had ever seen her but the doctors and nurses.

Noah sat in an empty room that had two chairs and no windows. This gave him time to look through her file and see why she was here and why Virgil might want her.

"Patient has delusional beliefs of invincibility. Claims she's died at least a dozen times. Her family was killed during a home invasion robbery. A lot of her blood was found at the scene, but she ran away and was found a week later uninjured. Doe also states that she's a danger to others and that these others are afraid of her. Police believe she killed the murderer of her family, but the patient has been deemed unable to understand the consequences of her actions. Doctors are concerned about her dosage of sedatives as her body increasingly becomes immune to the standard dosage for a woman of her age and size," he read to himself and began to realize what her ability might be.

That's when the door opened and a guard guided the woman to the chair across from him.

"If she gets violent you can manage yourself okay? I'll be at the door," the guard said before leaving.

"Who the hell are you? I already told the last cop what happened," She sighed and looked at the ground.

"I'm not a cop. I'm here to help you. Can you tell me your name?" Bennet tried to say as nicely as he could.

"They keep me here because they're afraid of me. Who are you then? Are you some kind of scientist? You don't look like one," She avoided his question.

"I'll tell you who I am as soon as you give me your name."

"Well I've got all day now don't I?" she grinned.

"As I said, I'm here to help you. I want to take you out of this place and to somewhere you are more understood," Noah tried to keep the conversation going.

The girl looked up at Noah's name badge, "Lying is natural…our parents lie to us. You lie a lot, don't you Mr. Bennet?" she scratched the back of her head.

"Do you want to be here forever? Or till they send you to a lab once they become more suspicious about your high tolerance for medications? They are already catching on. They give you a dose now that would kill a man three times your size. Now tell me, who you are? They say you call yourself Lady Lazarus, why is that?" Bennet unleashed as he was unable to play nice.

Her head turned and looked at him; something about him was different from the others.

"You're not afraid of me. I'm safe here, I'm dangerous. But you know that already, don't lie, you know what I am, who I am…it's in that file right there."

Noah tossed the file to the ground, "I don't care about what's written in there. I want to hear what you have to say."

She laughed, "I can't die! Do you have any clue how that feels? I watched my mother, father, and brother die…because a bullet didn't kill me. I wanted to die with them but I couldn't, and I never will. I ran away and I tried everything. I will never see them again! They locked me here, I must belong here…I'm crazy like the rest of them in this place. I killed my family's murderer, he called me a ghost…that he had killed me, but I was anything but dead."

Noah raised a brow, so this was why Angela had specifically sent him here to find her. This woman had the same abilities as Claire, his daughter. Now he began to understand her pain, because he had seen what Claire had gone through.

She laughed, "I wanted to watch him die, to have something that I can't."

And now he realized why Virgil would be interested in her; she had the desire to kill others because it gave her a feeling she didn't have.

Bennet wondered if it was safe to tell her about Claire. I was worth a shot since he needed to gain her trust.

"My daughter Claire, she's like you. Same age, but blonde hair and has been through a lot because of her ability too. She lost her mother to an evil man with a more powerful ability and her father to an accident. I adopted her before I knew just how special she was."

She looked up, "You lie! You LIE! Special? Is that what you call it? Are you "special" too?" Anger was rising within her. Everyone thought she was delusional and she didn't understand why this man would believe her and make up some story to make her feel normal.

"No, but I've met many others with abilities different from yours. Claire's a good kid; I'd like you to meet her someday. I think you two have more in common than you know."

"You know nothing about me!" she turned away.

"You're right. Maybe I don't, but I'd like to. You're indestructible and it is a part of who you are."

She shook her head, "Trust me, you don't want to." Looking away she sighed, "My real name is Tina but call me Lazarus, only my family can call me by that name and they are gone. Goodbye Mr. Bennet, I'm done here."

Shortly after, a team of two came in and sedated Tina in order to take her back to her cell. Her eyes stayed fixed on Noah as he watched from his chair.

Noah went to see who was in charge, "I'd like to transfer the patient to our facility for permanent residency. The organization deems her a threat to national security and doesn't see this place as an appropriate holding facility."

He then got on his phone to the others to bring a van and the necessary tools to restrain her in case things went wrong. Address:A

**The Port of Los Angeles: San Pedro- Sylar**

He drove dangerously fast down the somewhat busy streets. His heart was racing…from murder? He knew his boss was dead and there were countless witnesses.

Sylar cursed to himself, what was he going to tell Kate? He would have to lie…he couldn't tell her that he lost control or that he had seen Elle and Nathan at the port.

He made a sharp turn, pulled over the car and turned off the engine to think. Something about Nathan looking back at him made his blood boil and throwing him into that container brought relief.

However his mind was craving more, more blood and more pain inflicted on others. It had been so long since he had acquired a new ability because the hunger for it was gone. Now the hunger had returned, he desired more and more by each passing minute. Turning on the engine he got on the freeway toward downtown Los Angeles.

Sylar was out now to find the woman he had seen in his vision, the one that was searching for him. Perhaps he was meant to have her ability; why else would she be searching for him? And as he drove his mind started to wander at the possibilities…spontaneous combustion? A mind reader? Time traveler? No, she couldn't have been a time traveler. The mere curiosity was driving him wild.

By the time he reached downtown Los Angeles darkness had fallen and it began to rain again.

Virgil had arrived as well to LA, unaware that Sylar wasn't too far away.

Virgil had found her address and he approached her door. Taped to the door he found a note left for someone else, it read: I'm at Rite-Aid; I'll be back in twenty minutes.

He wasn't sure who this note was left for, but he quickly got into his car and drove to the nearest Rite-Aid hoping to find her there. Waiting around at her house was just too boring and he hoped to meet her at an unsuspecting location.

Natasha was in the parking lot of Rite-Aid putting items into the trunk as it started to rain. When she looked over her shoulder she saw a man approaching her. Her suspicions had been raised as it was a dark night and men in that area liked to prey on women.

"'cuse me, I d'ont mean to frighten' but are yeh Natasha Thomas?" Virgil kept his hands where she could see him.

He knew instantly he had the right woman when her instincts were to remove a glove from her right hand.

"Maybe, who are you? And what do you want?" Natasha demanded while not losing eye contact. She was ready to answer questions if this was about her criminal past. These crimes she had accidently and purposely committed.

"Names Virgil…I know what yeh can do Natasha. I know yeh must be 'fraid. You d'ont 'ave to be 'fraid, I'm like you, I can do things no one 'lse can. I w'ant yeh to join me and others 'ike us. We shouldn't 'ave to hide whah we are Natasha, we should embrace it and use it 'ike nature intended."

Natasha didn't like this strange man; he was scaring her with his propositions of using their abilities for selfish reasons. His voice was dark and she could just sense he was trouble.

"It's wrong. I may have done bad things in the past, but they were wrong and selfish. I want to change and I know with this one man's help that it's possible," she pleaded.

"Oh yeah? And who be dis savior?"

"His name…" she reached into her pocket and pulled out a post-it with some writing on it. "His name is Sylar. He used to be killer…using his powers for evil, but he's not anymore. He's just a regular guy. That's what I want and he can help me."

Virgil laughed hysterically, "Well r'ent you a doll. Sylar's a born kill'er and he'll always be a kill'er."

He wondered who had given her his name and told her about the reforms he'd made in his life.

"Sorry doll but I'm not taking no fer an answer, yer comin' wit me," he smiled and that's when Natasha gave chase.

She ran as fast as she could through parking lot and onto the streets of LA. Natasha knew this city a lot better than Virgil and she hoped to outsmart him, although she had no idea what he was capable of.

Turning the corner she ran right into another man and fell to the ground. Cursing she struggled to get back on her feet.

"You…" Sylar couldn't believe that the woman he had been searching for had run right into him.

"Oh my god. Aren't you Sylar?" Natasha grabbed hold of him, "He's after me...this guy. You have to help me!"

Sylar could feel the power she had even though he didn't know what it was. "Tell me, what can you do?"

Natasha let go of him and held up her hands, "I murder…my hands…they rob people of their souls! I'm tired of killing, help me control it? They say you were able to control your hunger. How can I change?" She looked up at him.

"I'd love you help you," he grinned and raised his fingers at her.

Natasha was frozen like a deer, but her screams echoed over the wet streets. Blood started dripping down her cheek as Sylar cut into her skull.

"Stop!" she screamed through the intense pain.

Virgil heard her screams and was able to temporary blind Sylar long enough to grab Natasha. "Shhh I've got you. Now come on before he regains his sight."

While Sylar wandered in the street in blind confusion, Virgil and Natasha took off. She struggled a little in his grasp but calmed down once she realized he wasn't going to hurt her.

"Why did he do that? Why did he try and kill me?" she wiped the blood from her head and winced in pain.

"We all be killers Natasha, none of us can change, Jus who we are," Virgil comforted her and took a quick look at her forehead. "If I wasn't der yu'd be dead. Let's get out of dis rain so I can bandage your head and we can talk."

Natasha looked back over her shoulder, afraid of the very man she was seeking help and answers from.


	3. Chapter 3: Ragged Healing

Chapter 3: Ragged Healing

**The New Company- Noah and Lazarus**

Lazarus's eyes started open as she found herself restrained in a chair. Her body shook from the cold air that was blowing on her from the air vent above. As her vision started to clear up she saw Noah by her side.

"You are such a bastard!" she groaned in an attempt to yell.

The drugs he must have given her were at least ten times stronger than the ones she had been receiving.

"Kidnapping? Why don't you just leave alone?" Her eyes closed half way.

"I didn't kidnap you, they signed you over to us and I'm sorry, but this is in your best interest," Noah remained calm as he had done this many times in the past. His mind was already anticipating her next question.

"Oh…right. I'm MUCH better now, chained to a chair in this cold room. If this is in my interest I demand to be let go!" She started pulling on her arm restraints, wondering if she could get out by breaking her hand and slipping out.

"I can't do that Lazarus, like you said: others out there are afraid of you. People here understand you and maybe if you're up to it you can meet some of them," Noah wasn't sure if that would be possible, but that depended on her.

"I was wrong….you are afraid of me!" she laughed. "Tell me Mr. B, what are you afraid of? That I might take that gun and stick it in your mouth? You can't hurt me remember? You may be stronger, but I don't break."

His head shook, "I don't think you'd do that. Aren't you the least bit curious what I'm offering to you?"

Lazarus raised a brow, "You have an offer? Because to me you just sound like some kind of freak collector. Is that right? You go out and find "special" people then make them play together?"

She had stopped trying to break loose because the straps were so tight. As she looked straight ahead a woman was standing there. She wore a navy blue suit and her hair was done up. Lazarus could tell she ran this place just from the confidence she carried with her.

Noah noticed Angela watching as well. "Excuse me," he said to her then stepped out of the room to see what she wanted.

"You managed to bring her back here. Any progress so far?"

He tried not to look back at the girl as he talked, "She's stubborn, actually reminds me a lot of you Angela," Noah smiled briefly but Angela didn't seem as thrilled.

"I need her to trust you. She could be a great asset for this company and possibly your new partner," that was all she said before turning around and leaving down the hall.

Noah looked back at the room Lazarus was in. Something about her didn't sit right with him and he wasn't sure about them working together. At least at this stage he knew she was unfit for the field. But Angela of course had ways of knowing things he didn't. Slowly he went back into the room to finish their conversation.

"Who was that? She's big boss isn't she?" Lazarus asked.

"In most ways she is, but there are departments I'm in charge of. She's offering you a place here once you're ready. It's a good paying job where you can use those talents of yours to help others like you," Noah took a seat again by the chair.

"Why would she want to do that? Why on Earth would anyone trust me to do something? I've been in a mental hospital for the past year for god sakes!" Lazarus wasn't buying it, especially since they had her tried to a chair.

"She's special too. Angela has visions of the future, that's how we found out about you. She wouldn't offer this to you if she felt you couldn't be trusted. But right now you need to recover and get trained. Being invincible against some people isn't always enough. The bigger question here though is…are you up to it? Is this what you want to do? I've laid it all out for you now."

She gave him a hard stare as her mind was thinking through things. Perhaps this was her ticket to freedom, a chance for her to get some relief from her pent up rage. The training part sounded interesting to her and would be of use to her if she wanted to get away from these people.

"Will I have power?" she asked.

Noah had to think a moment; while he would be in some ways in charge of her she would have some bit of power. It set off a little alarm in his mind that she would ask of such a thing. It was…unusual.

"Power? I guess to some degree. In case things get harry your abilities would be required and that is a lot of power. Once that other person knows you can't be harmed they become weaker than you. Yeah I'd say that's power," he shrugged.

"What about you? Will I have more power than you?" She only asked because he didn't have abilities.

"No, I'll be your partner in the field. We'll be working together, but it's also important that you listen to me out there. I've been doing this job a long time…and for a long time I was on the wrong side. Now I'm working with the good guys."

She smiled thinking that he used to be the bad guy. Knowing he did bad things suddenly took away from the good persona he seemed to put off. Now she knew that somewhere in there he had a bad streak in him.

"Alright Mr. B, I'll do it," Lazarus gave him a weak smile before heading back to sleep. More sedative had been administered to her by a machine with a timer as a precaution.

**Peter's Apartment- Peter Petrelli and Toby **

Peter sat at his kitchen table with the laptop computer that his mom had delivered to him. She gave it to him so that he could make plans and show him the location of the building planned for his Safe House.

"Dude, is your mom usually this helpful?" Toby asked looking at the plans for the building.

"No. She's never taken my ideas seriously, but with Nathan gone maybe she's changed," after that assumption he released a sorrowful sigh.

Peter still expected Nathan to come right to his window, or knock on the door to pay a visit. He felt vulnerable not having his big brother there to help, so he tried to stay out of trouble. Meeting Toby was a great relief, before then he was abusing his abilities and it had taken a bad toll on his health.

"So how do you plan to fill this place? And manage it?" Toby wondered aloud.

"I don't know. I was hoping you could help, that we'd take turns managing until we got some reliable people to help. Of course we'll need to seek some people out in order to spread the word. I'm sure it won't be a problem finding people like us that need help."

Peter showed Toby the original building and then showed him the improvements he made, "It's small, but we can do a lot with it and expand later if we need to."

Toby helped him out as they started to order beds, furniture, televisions, chairs, tables, and bedding. As well as kitchen supplies and electronics to the large kitchen they would run. His mom had given him a large budget for this project and he didn't worry about it.

Once they finished calling different suppliers, they started to compile a list of potential people that would benefit from the house.

"Hey Pete, take a look at this," Toby said pulling up a file that had a security password on it. "What's this about?"

Peter rolled his chair over to take a look, "Virgil Dupre? I don't know who that is. I wonder why his file is blocked. Scoot over a sec."

He started to try and break the password that needed to be provided by the administrator. After he tried a few times he sat back in his chair. He knew that too many attempts would flag his IP address.

"Let me try," Toby said and took control of the keys. He tried the first thing that came to mind and the page started to load.

Peter was shocked, "How the hell did you do that?" he laughed.

Toby shrugged, "Your mother made the password, so I just tried Socksforalice. I remember her telling that story when I went over there with you. I could tell that was really close to her, it's also the same number of characters."

He shook his head in disbelief, "you scare me sometimes."

Peter quickly started to read through the file. "Shit….I think I just out why this was blocked. This guy is flagged as a level 5; he wants to out us to the world. Noah's on the case and it's a priority. We have to do something about this Toby." He then started to explain why, "one time, when I went to the future I saw what happens when the world finds out about us. It's horrible."

"But check this guy out…he can control what you see, how you perceive it, or even blind you. Forever! I don't know man…it says he's also tied to some of these other people: a teleporter, precog, pyro, and a persuader. Pete this sounds a little over our heads," Toby hoped he wasn't serious about this.

"So? I've gone against probably the most powerful man in the world. This guy and a couple of his friends can't be all that bad. I've got a hell of a lot more training than they do," Peter took back control of the computer and started clicking on the others' names.

"That Sylar dude, right? Peter…he's still out there. I wouldn't really call that a success. And Sylar was just one man…who knows how many people this guys has now."

Pete glared at him, "I know what I'm doing this time. I can get an ability better than theirs and we can stop them. I sure as hell am not sitting back and doing nothing."

"What about the Safe House? There are people out there that still need help."

"We'll help them. But if we don't stop this guy we'll all be in danger."

Toby started reading Isabel's file, "Check out this woman. She can see the near future of those she touches. The strength of her powers can reach up to two days. And this man's teleporting abilities haven't even been tested, who knows how far he can teleport!" Toby caught a chill, "At least with this Sylar dude you knew what to expect. I'm sure Noah will be fine on his own or with the team that's also helping him. Besides...there are just two of us….and a lot of them."

"Claire will help us; I know she will once I tell her this was kept a secret from us," Peter pulled out his cell phone and texted her to meet him at his apartment.

"Claire? You now wanna throw her into this suicide mission? Are you sure about that?" Toby didn't realize his ears were turning red with embarrassment for his sudden defense of her.

"Relax; she is tougher than you think. She'll be here in an hour, let's start making copies of all this. We also need to cover our tracks and make sure my mom doesn't find out we know."

**Costa Verde- Kate Ricard**

She tapped her fingers on the arm rest and glanced over at the large clock on the wall.

"Where the hell are you…" She groaned and looked to the door hoping to see him approaching the front door.

Kate finally turned on the tv in hopes of putting her mind to rest.

There was a late breaking news story in San Pedro: "News reports confirm that a man by the name of Gabriel Gray, an employee at the Port of Los Angeles is the murder suspect of forty-six year old Alex Rodriguez of Santa Ana. Police are on the search to find this man. If you have any information you are asked to call the Los Angeles Police department."

Kate's mouth was hanging open as she stared at the New York police photo they had of Sylar. On her shaking legs she stumbled toward the phone and dialed his cell number, but his phone was turned off.

She went into the bedroom and started to pack a bag unsure of what was going on. Kate wasn't worried about the police showing up because the house was under a different name thanks to the Company. However she did worry about Sylar since this was like the old Sylar, and it made her wonder if Virgil had something to do with it.

Just as she had packed her suitcase there was a pain in her stomach and her water broke.

"Shit…not now…" Kate slowly laid down on the ground. Luckily she had the phone beside her and called for help.

Moments later Kate was taken to the hospital just in time to deliver a healthy baby boy, which that had previously decided to name Caleb.

Once she was rested enough Kate took her phone and dialed Sylar's phone again, it still went straight to voicemail. But only a few minutes her phone rang, an unfamiliar number was displayed and in hopes of it being him she answered.

"Hello?"

"Hi Kate, this is Noah Bennet. I think you know why I'm calling."

There was a sinking feeling in her stomach, "Sylar didn't come home tonight and no I don't know where he is," she responded coldly. "I'm at the hospital."

"Ah I see. It was about that time," was all he said back, leading Kate to be even angrier as he was spying on them somehow.

"What do you want?" she demanded.

"Just letting you know I might be dropping by soon. Sylar needs to be found before there is any more damage. Then we will take out Virgil and you three can go back to living happy lives. But if Sylar steps too far out of line I won't be able to hide it from Angela," Noah said before hanging up.

Kate stared at the phone, 'hide it?' It almost sounded like he cared about them and was protecting them. While the company had helped them to get started in California, she resented them for they did to her and Sylar.

The nurse came back in holding little Caleb for her to see. He was so beautiful with a little bit of dark hair that covered some of his head and big dark eyes.

"You're special you know that?" she whispered to him. "I just hope your Daddy is okay, he's our protector from the enemies."

She held him until she started to get sleepy. The doctor came and explained that she would be released in the morning. Kate hoped that by then Sylar would in touch with her.


	4. Chapter 4: A Soul Divided

Chapter 4: A Soul Divided

**Downtown Los Angeles- Sylar**

The tall buildings prevented the sun from reaching his eyes, but the noise of busy traffic was enough to wake Sylar the next morning.

His head was pounding as he moved away from the pile of trash he had collapsed on. Confusion stuck him as he realized he was far from home and there was dried blood on his hands and shirt.

Sylar scratched the back of his head and started walking. While some of what happened last night was starting to come back to him, other parts were for whatever reason missing. This terrified him and at the moment he was scared to go back home.

Back in his car he decided to drive home, leaving his thoughts to linger while on the road. Virgil had done this to him…he made him kill the boss. But it felt good. Sylar cursed as he started to remember scaring the woman he was searching for…

"damnit!"

She was now in Virgil's hands, which was better? It was possible since he had almost killed her on the streets.

He wondered who else he had managed to kill last night before passing out in the alley. It troubled him that he couldn't remember their scream, cries for help, and pleads for mercy. The feel of their blood wet and warm on his hands, but most of all, he was angry that he couldn't remember what ability he had taken from his victim.

Sylar took a detour home, unconsciously stopping to pay someone a visit. There was a man who knew of that had abilities and lived close to the Bennet's old home.

His adrenaline was pumping with excitement for his gift. It wasn't just about gaining abilities; it was about the power he felt and the pleasure he got from inflicting pain.

He knocked on the man's door and smiled as he answered. A short man in a dirty shirt and worn shorts was staring back at him. His fingers were stained orange from eating chips and a remote was held in his right hand. With a look of disgust Sylar used his abilities to fling the man back inside and shut the door behind him.

"I should have done this years ago," he said as he approached the man. "You were on my list…after Claire, but then they locked me up."

The man had no idea what Sylar was talking about; he felt tears in his eyes, "Please…go ahead and take my money. There are some expensive crystals in the safe. Just please...don't hurt me."

"I don't want your rocks or you money. I want your power...your ability that's in there," he held up his finger to the man's forehead.

As Sylar began to slice open his head the room started to shake. It was the ground beneath them shaking violently as if there was an earthquake. This man's gift was to manipulate the elements: chemical, electrical, landform, and heating. While Sylar already had electrical he could benefit from the other three. The chemical element alone he knew was powerful enough to destroy masses, but at a cost to his body, which was why he needed Claire's ability first.

"You're so weak….you can't even access some of your own abilities," he shook his head, "lucky for you I can."

The deed was done. Sylar looked across the room at a small candle that was burning on a table. He put his palm up and slowly started to lift his hand up…this caused the flame in the candle to grow larger and rise up, catching the curtains on fire as he desired.

He walked back to his car and drove off before the smoke had started to leave the house. Sylar drove home, realizing that what he did back there was the old him...the one he tried to suppress. Something wasn't right and deep inside he feared it would take over him. He needed Kate's help.

**The New Company- Noah and Lazarus**

Lazarus woke up covered with blankets this time and a nice pillow under her head. The restraints, the chair, and the cold air were gone as it seemed she was moved into a different room.

"Well this is a nice change," She rolled over and thought about going back to sleep.

Noah was actually waiting impatiently for her to wake up in order to begin her training. When he noticed her stirring he decided it was time.

He knocked on the glass, "Get up and get dressed."

Lazarus sat up giving him a yawn and a glare. On the chair beside her was a set of normal street clothes. A pair of jeans and a solid black tank top shirt, along with a pair of Vans sneakers.

Noah came back a moment later and opened the door, "Come on…"

She looked around, it felt odd to not have cuffs, a jacket, or be tied down. Strangely she behaved herself and did nothing rash, just followed him into another room. It's not that it seemed like the right thing to do, but her mind was so curious about her surrounding that she was calmed by it.

"What are we doing?" Lazarus quietly asked.

"I received a call last night about a...friend that's in trouble. I need to go find him and help him, but in order to do that you need to be properly trained. Training usually takes weeks before we let an agent go out in the field. Weeks we don't have. It's three hours from here to California, so part of the training will take place on the plane, some here and after we land. Are you a fast learner?"

"I think so…" She was surprised that she was going to be put in the field and to California? That she wasn't going to complain about.

Noah was nervous about this, but he had a secret insurance policy in case things went bad. This policy was installed on the back of her neck while they did a diagnostic. The device that was implanted is similar to an off switch but is controlled by a remote, something handier.

"Good. I'm going to teach you some basic combat and how use a gun and a taser."

"But already know how to use a gun…and a taser is just point and shoot, come on Mr. B I'm not brain dead," she folded her arms across her chest.

He rolled up his sleeved, "You're right. I think you've had enough experience with that. So let's get started with some defensive moves and go from there."

After two hours of training both were exhausted, but Lazarus now knew now how to defend herself and attack using her abilities as an advantage.

"You're free to walk around the place, just don't leave…and also keep in mind we're always being watched," he pointed to a camera in the corner of the room.

Noah left her alone to recover as he did the same and made some phone calls. The first call went to Angela, telling her that Lazarus was trained for the engagement. He had told her about Kate's call and she was the one that wanted him to bring Lazarus with him to California.

"No I haven't heard back from Kate, I don't expect her to want to talk to us…you should know that Angela. I plan to leave now; I'll brief her on everything else while we're in the air."

Angela agreed to this but requested one more thing before they left.

"You should introduce her to Claire before you leave. I think meeting Claire could be good for her, give her a sense of belonging. That is if Claire agrees to it," Angela posed this to Noah.

He had been thinking about Claire and having her meet Lazarus, but wasn't sure if now was the best time. Angela made a good point though.

"I'll call her. Yeah, I'll let you know when I make contact with Sylar."

Noah then called Claire's cell phone and only explained that there was someone at the Company he wanted her to meet.

Claire said she was a little busy at the moment, as she was secretly packing for Louisiana, but told him nothing of their plan. According to their plan made last night they'd meet at JFK airport for a 4pm flight. After glancing at her watch it was just shy of 1pm.

"Is this really important or can it wait?" she made one last attempt to put this off.

Noah sighed, "Yes, it's important; I swear it won't take long. Please Claire? Do this for me? "

Finally Claire agreed to it and said she was on her way. It made her wonder who her dad possibly had there that she would be interested in meeting. She put her suitcase in the trunk and drove over to meet her dad and the mystery person.

Meanwhile Lazarus walked around the Company building…checking out rooms and seeing other people. None of them flinched at the sight of her, or whispered behind her back. But there was still an urge in her to make them feel what she had felt. She wasn't sure what they could do, but none of them could be a match again her…she was indestructible. It made her laugh seeing some of them going about their routine day…typing away on keyboards, making copies of documents, watching other people go about their day from hidden cameras. It made her wonder if they had ever been watching her.

Lazarus turned away from them as she was tapped on the shoulder.

"Excuse me, do you have permission to be in here?" a woman dressed in a suit with a folder in her hand questioned her with an authoritative tone.

"Why? What are you gonna do about it?" she narrowed her eyes.

"Call security and take you right back to the gutter you came from," she snapped back and took out a phone and started dialing.

Lazarus made a fist and was about to strike the woman when Noah appeared.

"I don't think that will be necessary Emily, I'll take care of this," Noah calmly said and led Lazarus out of the room.

"Bitchy much?" Lazarus laughed.

"She was right; you should have listened to her and left quietly. You aren't in a position to question the authority of others here. But there is someone I want you to meet that you will be nice to. Agreed?" Noah stopped in the hall and waited for her response.

Lazarus raised a brow, "Sure…"

They continued walking and stepped into what looked like Noah's office. There was blonde haired woman, roughly the same age, standing there with car keys in her hand. They seemed like total opposites in every way as Lazarus was taller, more muscular, and had a darker appearance. Immediately she realized this was his daughter, the one he had mentioned before.

Noah spoke first, "Claire this is...Lazarus" he said to Claire, "and this is my daughter Claire."

Claire gave her father a strange look before approaching her with a smile, "nice to meet you. That's an interesting name by the way."

Lazarus nodded, "I can rise from the dead…no matter what I do, no matter how deadly a wound… I heal."

Claire couldn't believe this, "You're like me? No way!" Now she was kind of glad her dad called her down there.

"I guess. Your dad mentioned we have the same abilities, I called him a liar," She chuckled.

"He does lie, but this time he's being honest. Look…" she grabbed a pen from his desk and Claire displayed her ability but sticking it through her hand. Then she pulled it back out and the hole closed up on its own "See, good as new."

Lazarus was shocked instantly about her pain tolerance, "what, you don't feel anything? Not the pain?"

Claire looked away, "Nope…guess I have someone to thank for that. But that's a really long story."

Lazarus nodded, understanding that there must have been some trauma related to it.

"It's funny…I thought I was the only one out there," Lazarus shook her head, "But it's not true. So what do you do? How do you cope with having such an amazing power…I mean, isn't it great? We can't die! We're what everyone dreams of! Immortality without the whole drinking blood, ya know?" She laughed and folded her arms across her chest.

Claire shifted her weight a little, "I suppose. But right now I'm hoping to make a difference in the world in my own way. I spent a good part of my life trying to blend in with everyone else and hiding who I am. Now I want my opinions heard," she looked toward her dad as he really had no idea she had made this commitment already.

Lazarus didn't quite understand her desire to help the world. In her opinion the world was full of sinners of all kind and that nothing could change it.

"Uhh…that sounds interesting," she made a fake smile.

"Maybe we can hang out sometime? It isn't every day that you find someone that can understand you" Claire asked her.

Lazarus wasn't sure and looked to Noah as if for permission, but when he didn't say anything she answered: "Sure…"

Claire nodded, "Good. Sorry, but I got a thing I have to get too."

She gave her father a big hug and promised to call him when she could before leaving.

Noah looked over at Lazarus, "that went well…don't you think?"

She shrugged, "she's different. I'm not perfect like her. I don't think I could ever be like her…"

There was some disappointment in her voice. Claire was this normal functioning person that sort of went through the same, if not worse life than she.

"No, no. That's not what this is about…there is no need to compare yourself to Claire. You girls are two separate people that have the same ability. But I think there is a lot that you could learn from each other. Now we need to get going if we want to catch our private flight to California."

"Private? You guys seriously have your own jet?" she couldn't believe it.

"Yes we do."

Noah grabbed a suitcase from his desk and led the way to the awaiting car that would transport them to the hanger.

**Costa Verde- Virgil and Natasha **

Natasha had agreed to stay at Virgil's motel room since she was too terrified to return home because of Sylar.

"I want to thank you for letting me stay the night here. Gosh, I feel so stupid now for thinking someone like Sylar could help me...I really am." Natasha took a drink of orange juice, "But how were able to find me? I don't even know you."

Virgil knew this would come up eventually and he was prepared, "f'rend of mine has a gift with computers yah see. He t'od me you was here and that you had been in some trouble in the past."

Her stomach began to feel a little sour thinking about it. "They started out as accidents because I couldn't control it…" she held up her hands and looked at them. "But once I did, I used them as weapons against my enemies. I had rage inside me from the teasing I've endured all my life and I felt this gift was given to me in order to right the wrongs done against me. Now…my head is clear."

Virgil looked at her from across the table. Natasha was a strong looking woman, of a dark complexion, deep brown eyes that reminded him of the rivers. She was average in height and weight, but nothing else about her was average. The sun peering in seemed to make her skin glow, she was angel like.

'This woman once a kil'er?' Virgil thought it over. While Marek was right about her on paper he couldn't see this woman as a cold blooded killer like Sylar. Instead, he would use her differently as plans started to change.

"E'ver thought to use yor gifts against Sylar? Though it be amazin' if the dude e'ven haz a soul. But anywayz what you be thinkn'?" Virgil scratched his stubby cheek.

Natasha poked at the eggs he had gotten for her. "I'm not sure Virgil. I guess it would put my mind at ease knowing he couldn't hurt me again. I thought about it last night…you know? As he was standing over me…I waited because I thought for some reason he'd come to his senses," she laughed at the way that sounded now.

"He's killed plenty of innocent people yah know? You wouldn't jus be kilin' a man Natasha, you would stoppin' a murderer, think on it some."

He had a point…Sylar was a killer that probably didn't deserve to live. However, she knew he couldn't be killed as some had tried in the past. It made her wonder if perhaps she was the only one that could stop him.

"I'll do it," she broke from her thoughts and delivered her answer to the blonde Cajun.

He smiled, "That's great darlin'. Now we jus need a plan. Can't go huntin' after kil'ers without a plan."


	5. Chapter 5: Linga Sharira

Chapter 5: Linga Sharira

**Harvey, Louisiana- Claire, Peter, and Toby**

Claire managed to sleep the whole way to Louisiana while Peter was alert and aware. He was looking out the window trying to think of what they were going to do once they arrived. Toby wasn't much help either as he was preoccupied with a book that had vampires on the cover.

Once they landed it was time to gear up with stun guns. The purpose of this mission wasn't to hurt anyone, but to make them see their mistake.

Peter thought he understood what was going on there: Virgil was their leader and everyone else was abiding to him in fear of what he might do if they don't agree. His angle was to show them that this violence wasn't the answer.

"Are we clear about our mission? We're only armed in case things get bad," Pete lectured.

They knew Virgil was in California, which was to their advantage. Peter knew Virgil wouldn't listen to what he had to say.

"What's the matter Claire?" Toby asked her seeing how quiet she still was since leaving New York.

"I'm worried about my dad. He called me to the company before I went to the airport. I met his new field partner…Boy is she a trip."

"Noah's had tons of partners in the past Claire; Noah can handle himself pretty well," Peter jumped in.

"This one's different. She has the same ability as me….and I just don't trust her," Claire sighed.

"Jealousy?" Toby wondered out loud, receiving a glare from Claire. "Alright maybe not."

"You're right Peter, I can't worry about him. Not when there are plenty of others to worry about," Claire sighed, but couldn't help worrying.

The three had no address for this mansion they supposedly lived at. But it wasn't difficult finding them in the crowd on Bourbon Street. Peter saw one man suddenly appear with a girl in his arms that he recognized as James, a teleporter. The girl he had with him however wasn't recognizable.

"Ok, there they are. Toby I want you to follow them. Text me when it looks like they're on the move home," Peter instructed before taking off into another direction with Claire.

"Claire…I want you to keep an eye on Isabel. Just make sure you don't get too close, we don't want to risk her accidently seeing our plan. And we don't want to give her any reason to use her ability. Got it?"

Claire saw Isabel and another man get out of a truck that was covered in wet mud.

"Alright, but what about you?"

Peter watched as one of the girls arriving in a different car separated from Isabel and the man. "I'm going to follow her. Introduce myself and find out who she is. I want you to do the same with the man, find out what he can do. That way we'll be prepared."

Claire left and Peter went over to meet this young woman who seemed a little unfamiliar of where she was.

"Hey, you're not from around here are you?" Peter asked.

The red haired girl that looked around her early twenties turned her head no, "but I am now. I just moved here from Waveland, Mississippi. Had no other choice really, the city still hasn't recovered from that hurricane. It was flooded and destroyed. My sister and I survived, but our parents were two of the fifty people that didn't survive…they were at work that day and I still don't know what happened to them," she frowned.

"Wow, I'm so sorry to hear about that..." Peter was shocked that this girl was so open towards him.

She smiled, "Sorry…I talk a lot when I'm nervous. Gosh I think I just gave half my life story. But that's when I discovered…" she cut herself off.

"Discovered what?" Peter asked, captivated by her story.

"Promise you won't freak out?" She whispered.

Peter nodded and the girl led him to a private area to show him her secret. She turned her palm up and fire appeared out of where. "It just happened one day…it was a lifesaver."

She was waiting for him to scream or to run away…but he didn't. "Aren't you afraid?" she asked.

"Not at all. Look…" Peter was excited to show her what he could do. Currently he had the ability of super strength and displayed it to her by punching a hole into a nearby wall. "I absorb other abilities. This one is enhanced strength."

She was amazed, "I'm Kimberly by the way…you can just call me Kim."

"I'm Peter."  
"I can't believe how many of us there really are out there. Even my sister can do something very amazing. A man…Virgil came to us and said there are millions and that they all need not to be afraid anymore. My sister Mary and I were living in a trailer…he was offering us a safe place. We took it."

"What can your sister do? If you don't mind me asking."

"Breathe under water. That's how we were able to survive. She swam out and got us a boat once the storm had passed. Without that power and mine to keep us warm…we wouldn't have made it."

Peter nodded and stayed quiet on the subject. But he was bothered that Virgil had taken Kim and Mary in without warning them of the extent of his plans. He started to figure out how he was going to do this…Peter wanted to get invited back to their place in order to find its location and have the others follow him.

He got to hang out with Kim for the rest of the night, listening to her crazy stories. Meanwhile he'd text Claire and Toby whenever he had a chance.

"I have some friends here as well…we're here on vacation from New York City. It's my niece and a good friend of mine," he explained when she noticed his texting.

"Wow that's nice. Is your niece special too?"

Peter took a drink and nodded, "Yeah…yeah she can regenerate her body. It's pretty…awesome."

The effects of the alcohol were starting to take a toll on him. He was drinking because everyone else was and the beers just kept coming to him.

Kim got a message on her phone around two in the morning. She closed it and grabbed Peter's arm, "why don't you guys tag along with us? I'm sure the others would like to meet you?"

He didn't have time to object before she had taken him out of the bar and into the streets. Peter sent a text to Claire and Toby but they were already out there as Isabel and James were back at the car with the others.

Peter called them over, "Kim this is Claire and Toby…"

Claire immediately smiled and tried to be nice, but she could tell Peter was a little drunk.

"What are you doing?" she said under her breath.

"Relax," he whispered back.

Isabel came close to him and he backed away a little, afraid she might touch him. She gave him a smile instead of being put off by his move away from her.

"I see you've had some bad experiences as well," She interpreted.

Peter decided to go along with this situation, "my brother was killed...because of his ability."

She nodded, "I see. Virgil would love to you meet you."

Peter was already told about Virgil, but the others gave a questioning look to not raise suspicion.

"That's right you don't know who he is…Virgil is our leader. We all work together and desire the same thing. A safe world, one we won't be seen as freaks or be hunted for experimentation. But hey…Kim will take you guys to our place and we can talk some more about it."

Omara, Mary, Isabel, and Marek got into the car…while James and Mercedes disappeared suddenly from where they were standing.

"You guys can come with me," Kim offered moving over to her car. "Isabel really likes you...I can tell. Please come, we'd like to hear more about you and your abilities."

Peter led the others along to Kim's car and they drove way off into the dark dirt roads.

"Man you guys live out in the middle of nowhere!" Toby said looking out the window.

When Kim's car stopped outside a big mansion they got out and were speechless at the size of it. It looked like an eerie old plantation that had been long forgotten.

"Well guys this is it. Our little hide away, come on they're probably waiting for us..." Kim led the three into the mansion and gave them a short tour of the place before sitting down with the others. It was a large family room by a fireplace that had enough seating for a hundred people.

Once they all sat down they were offered more to drink and the conversation started. Isabel told them of how she met Virgil and his promise to never let anything like that happen again.

Peter looked to Claire then to the others, "Virgil wants the world to know about us? And what we can do?"

Isabel and the others nodded in agreement.

"I used to be able to visit the future...and I'm gonna tell you a story. My brother was going to do the same thing…he was making a live address on televisions everywhere. You know what happened? He got shot and he almost died because the world isn't ready to know about us. There was a reason that a guy from the future came there to stop him."

Peter left out a lot of details from this story, but he knew he got the point across to them. This was more difficult than he thought because they weren't as suppressed as he had thought…they knew what Virgil's plan could mean and it didn't seem to bother them.

Isabel was clearly getting upset that Peter was disagreeing with Virgil's tactic and stood up.

"Who are you to know when the right time will be? Perhaps now is the time for us. When the government came after people like us that was the last straw…we are more powerful than the government, the military, and all of that combined. We are going to fight for what's right…we have the right to be ourselves in public and not face discrimination. These abilities were given to us for a reason…it's our job to push humanity farther," Isabel used a lot of Virgil's words, but combined them with her own.

Claire stood up as well to defend Peter: "we can be ourselves and not have to hide in the jungle! The government isn't interested in us anymore as long as we leave them alone. There are agencies out there to help people like us make normal lives for ourselves. Perhaps these abilities are to help the world, but let's start small by helping who we can first."

Isabel started moving toward Peter. He knew what was coming and started to back away, but she kept pursuing him.

"What are you doing?" he questioned her.

"Your future…I want to know why you are really here. This isn't some coincidence is it? You must work for them!"

Isabel was able to grab Peter's arm and her eyes clouded over as she saw his immediate future. A piercing scream came from her lungs as she looked at him in terror.

Peter was now afraid that she'd tell the others that they were hunting Virgil, so he pushed her away. Isabel stumbled backwards, tripping over a rug and fell to the floor, but her head caught the edge of the coffee table, snapping her neck.

"Oh my god…" Peter's paramedic intuition kicked in and he rushed over to her to treat her. His hands were shaking as he felt for a pulse…there was none so he started CPR even though he knew what had happened.

Toby was close behind to help, but acted more as a body guard for Peter. James and Marek were both ready to go at Peter for hurting Isabel…luckily they had no idea she was dead yet.

Claire ran over and helped Toby. Seeing the situation grow worse, Toby pulled Peter off Isabel: "She's gone man… we gotta get out of here before they kill us," Toby looked behind him.

Omara was looking at Claire… and she could feel herself losing control of her actions. The persuasive abilities Omara had were making Claire want to attack Peter, but Claire fought back as her father had taught her.

Peter grabbed Claire and Toby ran behind them out of the mansion. Luckily the keys were left in the ignition of Isabel's car and they took off as fast as they could. It was still dark and muddy but Toby was driving and he remembered the way out to the city streets. He constantly checked his mirrors to see if they were being followed.

Claire kept checking to see if they were following as well, but no one was. "I don't get it…why didn't they try harder after to come after us? One guy can teleport! He could have just popped in and taken Peter right back to the mansion."

"They're scared...I could sense it. Claire, they know you can regenerate and they don't even know what I can do…and they probably don't understand Peter's abilities either. Not to mention they probably think we work for the Company and have backup hanging around here. I'd be scared if I was them too," Toby explained.

Peter was unusually quiet as they drove around Louisiana at night in the car of the woman Peter had murdered. He couldn't get the sound of her scream out of his head. But now he understood why she was screaming…she saw him killing her and it was too late to prevent it. Had Nathan been there he would have said to him, "Pete it wasn't your fault…she fell and hit her head, it was an accident." Reality set in…Nathan wasn't there and Peter knew that he wanted to prevent her from knowing their plan. It still made him feel rotten inside, he had saved so many lives and tonight he had taken a life.

**Costa Verde- Kate and Sylar**

Kate was sitting in front of the television holding little Caleb when Sylar came through the door. She was scared not only for her, but Caleb as well. It was a friend of hers that picked her up from the hospital and wanted to stay with her, but she told her to leave. Kate didn't want anyone else involved when it came to dealing with Sylar.

He passed right by them and the sudden movement made Caleb cry.

Startled by the unusual sound, Sylar's hands glowed blue with and electrical charge as he turned around. The light from it captivated the baby and he stopped crying. There Sylar saw Kate holding Caleb tight in her arms and fear in her tired eyes as she saw the blood stains on his clothes.

Sylar finally regained control of himself and fell to his knees. It was a fall of defeat and of failure. Already he had failed as not only a husband, but a father by not being there to see his son brought into the world. There was a tightness in his chest that he could feel and finally suppressed. It was the killer still inside him…wanting to be released.

"What have I done?" he gasped and looked up at her.

Kate got up and put the baby down before joining him on the floor of the room. She could tell an internal battle was fuming inside of him. It wasn't like Sylar to break down like this.

"Listen, you just lost your temper. I saw it on the news. Your boss, wasn't he? Listen Sylar...It's alright, we all mess up."

He didn't move. "It's far worse than that…" there was confession in his manner and a nearly broken voice.

Kate backed away from him, fearing that he could turn on her at any moment, "How many?"

"I don't know…" his voice was barely audible.

"What do you mean you don't know?"

"I can't remember Kate, it's like I became another person, but it was all me." Sylar laid down on his back.

Kate's tears streamed down her cheeks, "Why now? Has it been the stress? Does it have to do with that girl who wanted your help?"

"My help" Sylar laughed in a crazed manner, "She wanted…MY help…" He laughed some more before he was able to continue. "I almost ripped her skull right open and snatched that ability."

Kate's breathing got shallow as she listened and feared where this was going.

"Virgil…he's behind this somehow...he was there…he blinded me so she could away. It was the other way around?" he shouted and the earth beneath them shook. "In the vision I was supposed to save her….but it was the other way around!" he repeated.

Kate's eyes were wide in terror at the new ability he seemed unable to control.

"I know there is an ability inside my brain that I took, but I have no idea what it was...and I can't control this other one either. It was impulse…it was my attempt to survive. I took a man's ability that I had planned to take before…all of this…when I wanted it to destroy the world. I have it now, but I don't know why" he looked up at her with blood shot eyes for answers.

"Bennet knows what happened at the port. He called for you and he's coming here. I don't know what he's going to do, but he wouldn't tell me. I think he's coming to deal with Virgil. The police have your picture all over the news...Sylar, please, pull yourself together and help him so we can move on," Kate tried to motivate him.

Sylar tightened his fist, "he made me see Elle and Nathan. He did it on purpose…He wanted me to kill the boss, but why? Why can I no longer control the urge for more?"

He got up and picked Caleb up from his crib, "He can't know about you…" Sylar looked at Kate, "No. We're leaving tonight."

Holding his child put things into perspective for him. He didn't want to cross that line again, it felt good…and that was wrong.

Kate didn't say anything as he handed Caleb over to her.

"I need a shower…I woke up in an alley this morning."

"Alright…" she went off to clean Caleb up.

Meanwhile Sylar tore off his bloodied clothes and started the shower. As he went back in the room he was met by a young man, a little shorter than he with brown hair, and the same eyes and chin as he.

"Who the hell are you?" Sylar put up his hand to keep him from moving any closer.

The young man smiled and slowly began to hover off the ground.

"Well that explains how you got here. Now answer the question, did Virgil send you?" Sylar glared.

He shook his head no. "I'm Caleb Gray, your son from the future."

Sylar turned his head to the side and stepped closer to examine him, "You're lucky…you have your mother's nose."

Caleb chuckled, "that's not why I am here."

Sylar watched him carefully.

"Yes, I have the same ability as you. I read your thoughts," he half smiled at his father. "There was a mistake made and I'm here to correct it."

"What mistake? Couldn't you have come yesterday instead?" Sylar scratched the back of his head.

"No. After that shower you and my mother are going to skip town instead of fighting Virgil, right? You must help Mr. Bennet and the others instead. The future is in chaos…I know you can do it. I don't care what it might change, but anything is better than the world I come from."

Sylar folded his arms across his chest. "But wait…does my future-self agree with this? Did he send you here?"

Caleb frowned, "The king had you burned alive after you were captured in the fourth war. Before they took you, you told me to come here and to stop you from letting Virgil get away. Oh and also to not worry, you'll be a great father."

"I can't stay here…I'll lose control again and who knows who I might kill..." Sylar thought he heard something and turned his head, it was nothing. But when he turned back Caleb was gone.

He cursed as he took a shower and cleaned himself up. Afterwards he sat on the bed looking in the mirror, seeing only himself. He laid back and stared at the ceiling in thought.

His eyes half closed and Sylar suddenly found himself in a bathroom…a motel bathroom. Sylar did his best to not make any noise; he wasn't sure what was going on. Was this his son's doing?

When he looked in the mirror he realized it was something else as appeared transparent in the mirror. Sylar looked down at his hands and realized this was true.

His concern about this faded some as he realized who was talking in the room:

"Tell 'im you still want his help, and the first chance you get…BAM, take Sylar's soul from him," Virgil looked to Natasha.

"Alright," she agreed.

"Then we'll 'ed back to Louisiana and I'll introduce ya to the gang."

Then his phone rang, "What? NO…not my… Marek?"…"Are you sure? This can't be true! Damit!" he yelled out as something bad had clearly happened on Marek's end in Louisiana.

Virgil was moving toward the bathroom Sylar was in. As he prepared for a confrontation Sylar suddenly was back on the bed and only a couple of minutes had passed on the clock. "Woah...that must be it...the ability. Some kind of spirit walking...ghost like…"

Kate walked into the room, "How are you feeling?"

"What do you call it when you're two places at once, but it's not really you…you're like there, but not really there…"

"Astral projection? That's what it sounds like," she guessed.

"That's the ability…I was in Virgil's motel room; I know his next move" Sylar grinned.

He began to wonder if he should tell Kate about meeting their son from the future. He figured he'd pay for it if he didn't.

"I met our son…"

Kate laughed, "Yeah…he's in the living room, do you not remember or something?"

"No, here…from the future. He time traveled to warn us."

Kate's jaw opened for a moment, "why didn't you get me?"

"Because by the time he explained and I turned my head away he was gone," he put up his hands a little disappointed he didn't stay longer.

"Oh. Well how was he? What was he like?"

Sylar laughed, "You mean did we do a good job? Yeah. He's a good kid. But we need to keep it that way and do what he says."

"What did he say to you?" Kate was concerned.

"That I need to help Bennet to stop Virgil; they need my help to save the world."

**Virgil and Natasha**

Virgil stayed in the bathroom for an hour before coming back out. His face was blank of expression.

"Go home, pack a bag, I'll meet you there. We're going to your new home," his voice was cold and final.

Natasha left the motel and got into a cab that was waiting for her.

Once alone, Virgil started to take out his frustration and sorrow on the room. He trashed the place completely. When someone banged on the door to make him stop creating so much noise Virgil opened it and waved his hand. This caused the man's eyes to fall out of their sockets and hang down his face.

"It's people like you...that annoy people like me." Virgil said before closing his door.

The man ran around blind and screaming for help.

He quickly finished packing and got to this car before they could come find him.

Driving as fast as he could he arrived at Natasha's house. Virgil made one last call to Louisiana and they were both teleported home.

Virgil vowed he would let nothing get in his way from justice. Isabel was his angel and didn't deserve to die.

Natasha was aware that he had lost someone really close to him by murder. However she wasn't too upset that plans had changed because that meant she wasn't going after Sylar…yet. The reason she had sought Sylar was for guidance was to help her from becoming a monster again. Although it seemed Virgil wanted the person she used to be in order to take down Sylar. It made her wonder if it would end there…would he now want her help to take down his girlfriend's killer?


	6. Chapter 6: Cheek by Jowl

Chapter 6: Cheek by Jowl

**Flight 77- Noah Bennet and Lazarus**

Lazarus's eyes were fluttering as she dreamed; Noah had cued her in on all she needed to know about the assignment and the people involved. As she slept he took some notes about her behavior so far on the trip and began to strategize how they would handle Sylar, Kate and take down Virgil.

In her sleep Lazarus was walking down the halls of Westchester with a gun she took from a security officer. Screams were coming from various rooms as they spotted her. Lazarus's feet, hands and gown splotched with blood. She smiled as she licked the side of the gun.

"What are you all afraid of? Dying? Trust me…It's not that bad."

Her heart was beating out of her chest as she heard someone close by crying. Swiftly she moved over to where the sound was coming from and pointed the gun. It was a young girl who was already covered with blood on her shirt, but looked unharmed.

"Please…please don't shoot me again," she pleaded.

Lazarus lowered the gun in shock, "What's your name?"

"Tina…" She shook in terror, her large eyes looking at the gun.

"Tina?" Lazarus started to back away from her younger self until she bumped into someone.

"What the hell!" she held up the gun as she turned around and was prepared to shoot. "Mom?"

Tina's mother stood there in a black dress, "What are you doing honey? Hurting all these people…What's happened to you Tina? You're a horrible person!"

Her mother grabbed her tight on the shoulders and shook her.

Lazarus turned back and the little girl was gone. Tears started to fall from her eyes seeing her mother there again…it felt so real. "Mommy? I've missed you…" She tried to hug her but her mother pushed her away.

"You're a killer! Get away from me!" She shouted, getting blood on her hands and arms from Lazarus

"What?" Lazarus looked at her confused. "You don't understand!"

"Oh I understand…you're an evil child! Get out of my face!" She cried.

Lazarus stared at her mom in disbelief, "No. You're my mother! I've missed you so much…you have no idea..."

"I am not your mother any longer!" She suddenly possessed a kitchen knife and stabbed Lazarus in the throat.

She could feel the blade pierce her flesh and muscles as blood poured out of her like faucet. Lazarus tried to scream but her vocal cords didn't allow it as they too were destroyed.

"Shhh, calm down," Noah grabbed Lazarus as she jumped up from her seat holding her neck with both hands in pain.

Lazarus looked around and started to calm down from what was now just a dream. She relaxed back into her seat and an announcement said they would be landing shortly.

Noah let go of her and told her to put back on her seatbelt. "What happened?"

Her head was throbbing but she buckled herself in before looking over at him. "Just a nightmare about my mother; I have them from time to time. The Doc said its post-traumatic stress."

Of course she never told the doctor about the mass murder in the ward of all the patients and staff.

"Oh. Well if you need some help dealing with it there is a man I know back at the Company that helps with memories."

"I'll keep that in mind," she said and looked out the window. "I've never been to California. It looks sunny," she smiled.

Noah smiled, "It sure does."

As they were leaving the plane he wondered if bringing Lazarus with him was a mistake or not. He could tell that she was still a sick woman that had a lot of issues that needed to be addressed…putting her out in the field didn't seem like a good idea, but they needed her. Together they picked up their bags and headed to Costa Verde in a rented car to visit Sylar and Kate. The ride was mostly quiet as Lazarus was checking out their surroundings as they drove down the freeway.

"It's so different…" She whispered seeing the tall palm trees on the sides of the road and the houses that all looked alike.

"Well don't get used to it…I just got a text message before we left the airport that Virgil is back in Louisiana. We're going to pick up Sylar and fly back there as soon as possible," Noah informed her.

They arrived in Costa Verde and using the GPS he was able to find their house. Noah parked the car and turned to her:

"Just let me do the talking, alright? Sylar is a very powerful man…he may or may not be willing to help us. His wife Kate also doesn't like me…she may not be as powerful but she's clever. If the worst should happen, get in the car and drive as fast as you can."

Lazarus's eyes widened and she was a little afraid to meet Sylar after hearing what he had done to people like them. Noah assured her that he wouldn't hurt her because he already had her ability, taken from his daughter Claire. She agreed to stay quiet and added that he wouldn't even know she was there.

Together they walked to the door and were greeted by a woman who looked visibly pissed off.

"Hello Kate…this is my partner Lazarus. May we come in and talk?" Noah spoke calmly to her.

Kate didn't say a word as she opened the door to let them inside.

As they entered, Sylar was in the kitchen getting himself a drink and asked if their guests wanted anything.

"Tell me what happened, Sylar? Are you a threat again?" Noah blatantly asked before taking a seat.

"Even if I was…what are you going to do about it?" He smiled and upon entering the room noticed Lazarus. "I see you brought a friend…"

"My new partner," Noah corrected. "She's going to help us against Virgil."

"Is that right? And you want me to come with you…that's really why you're here isn't it?" Sylar took a seat across from them after Noah nodded.

"Virgil has been sneaking around here the past couple of weeks. He showed up at my work and used his abilities to enrage me…and it worked. I lost control and woke up in an alley Downtown. Then I killed again…but I'm in control. I came home to learn I have a son now," he looked over at Kate who was still standing nearby. "Before you got here…he came to me from the future. He wants me to help you find Virgil and stop him. And you're lucky that he did Bennet…had he not come here, we would have been far away by now."

"Really? What did he say to you?" Noah was curious and at the same time amused by this. He was still adjusting to the fact that Sylar had a son, a thought Angela had introduced to him before but never thought was possible.

Sylar leaned forward, "Virgil would succeed, wars would start, and many people like us will die. I've discovered that I like the world the way it is now…I don't want some crazy person ruining it."

Noah smiled, he could tell something was different about Sylar, but he didn't dare address it. This was definitely not the Sylar who wanted to the rule the world not so long ago.

"Glad to have you on board then. Our flight for Louisiana leaves tonight…" He paused feeling his phone vibrate in his jacket pocket. "Excuse me…"

As Noah stepped out of the room Kate reentered, "Caleb and I are coming with you…"

Sylar shook his head no, "I need you two to stay here where it's safe. You need to protect Caleb and Louisiana is no place for a newborn. He needs his mother Kate…you know that," he held her in his arms. "You understand right? This isn't like last time."

As they talked Lazarus looked around, she left her seat to check out the house. It seemed normal…not the house of a serial killer that Noah had spoken of on the way there. After a moment she sat back down because she was afraid they'd think of her a snoop.

Kate sighed, "I hate it when you're right. Just promise me you'll be careful? I can tell you're scared…you've been hiding it from Bennet." She had forgotten the young woman had returned to the room. "I just don't trust him…not after what he did you, to us…to others like us."

"I know, but we need Bennet and he needs me. You know I wouldn't be doing this unless it was absolutely necessary. I'd much rather be with you and Caleb, but our son came from the future to warn us. You know we can't ignore that."

Kate nodded her head and let go of him, "You're right…I'll back off."

Meanwhile Noah was speaking to Claire on his phone in the other room.

"What is it Claire Bear? Is everything alright?" he was suspicious because she knew he was on assignment.

"It's Peter…I'm worried about him. He hasn't been acting like himself and I don't know what to do," Claire confessed, while not giving the whole story as to why Peter might be in a downward spiral.

"Call Angela and she will talk to him. He's probably still dealing with the loss of Nathan…we all are and people show grief in many different ways. I'll be leaving tonight for Louisiana alright?" Noah rubbed his eyes.

There was a brief period of silence from Claire after he said he was going to Louisiana. There was no way she could warn him…she said nothing.

"How's the new partner working out?" Claire asked still unsure about the woman she had met back in his office.

Noah chuckled, "Fine Claire…you need to stop worrying about me alright? I know she's a little rough around the edges but she just needs guidance."

Claire wasn't convinced, "Alright dad…you're the boss. Love you!"

"Love you too Claire Bear…bye." Noah closed his phone.

That was a strange reason for her to call and he could tell she was holding back about something. Now however wasn't the time since they needed to focus on taking down Virgil and his crew in Louisiana.

He returned to the kitchen and looked at the clock. "Better pack some things…Lazarus and I will wait in the car," Noah said to Sylar before saying bye to Kate.

Kate didn't make eye contact, only mumbled something before leaving the room after Sylar.

Noah laughed once they were outside, "I think she's starting to like me again."

"Don't count it," she said, recounting what Kate had said about him while talking to Sylar.

**Harvey, Louisiana- Virgil's House**

Virgil sat in the car outside the compound with Natasha in the front seat. They sat in silence for a moment after he turned off the engine. She didn't dare say anything or look over at him….but she understood his hesitancy, because seeing her dead meant she really was dead.

"Let's go…" he said before getting out of the truck and leading her to the door.

A couple of people were standing were waiting for them at the door. One of them was Marek, who had a small pile of papers he held under his arm for Virgil.

"Who did dis?" Virgil looked at him.

"It was Peter Petrelli. There were three of them…I have files on all of them. They work for the Company, they were here to kill you…instead they killed her," Marek explained.

"Enough…" he growled and pushed passed them.

Right there by the door on a couch laid Isabel. Her head was turned away from him….she looked as if she was resting. He expected that any moment she would wake to see him home…to see him safe from harm. But she didn't move…her pale figure seemed to contrast the room in a way he couldn't describe.

"My darlin'," he cried out and bent down to hold her in his arms. "Why did dey do this to me! You 'ave done nothin' wrong. NOTHIN'!" He shouted and it echoed through-out the plantation house. Virgil was unashamed as he let lose his sorrow with tears for Isabel. He never imagined his friends would be in danger here in Harvey. Especially in this house…this wonderful house he grew up in, it didn't feel like his house today.

"Please…leave us fer a moment?" he whispered.

Marek nodded and set the files down on the table by Virgil and led the others out the room: "Come…I have some things to show you," he said to Natasha.

Once they were gone Virgil sat down on the couch and kept Izzy's head in his lap. Gently he moved the hair away from her cold face. He stared at her beautiful face…the face of the woman he wanted to someday marry. Virgil wished he was there to stop him…or at least to be there for her last moments of life. His tears feel down from his cheeks and onto her shirt as his hands started to shake and reality sank in. It enraged him suddenly again, for this wasn't how it was supposed to be, this wasn't about violence…it was about ending the divide. He tilted his head back and moaned…

"Peter Petrelli will pay fer dis! For takin' her 'way from me, and fer putting all us through more pain. First I'll deal wit him…den we'll take out Sylar and den be free to live how we should…to fulfill yer dream my dear."

He moved back to the ground and sat there by the couch to kiss her forehead. And while holding her hand he watched her, knowing he wouldn't see those eyes ever again in the future. It made him wonder what secrets were in her eyes for Peter to kill her. What did she think about the seconds between knowing her death and dying? He had been told of the situation, that Isabel had seen something from his touch after he tried to avoid contact. Slowly he let go of her hand and placed it at her side.

"I luv yeh Izzy. Not even death can change dat…but I will stop dis, I will find Peter and fuhfill our mission…dat I promise yeh dear."

Virgil picked up the files Marek had left him on the table of the three that had fled. From looking at their pictures he was able to recognize two of them…the girl and the killer. Seeing the smiles on their faces in the photos made him shake with anger. They must have been sent here to take him out…there was no other explanation. He looked at their weaknesses…for the girl it seemed decapitation was a possibility and the men were easy targets.

"James!" he called out.

"Yes Virgil?" he appeared suddenly in the room.

"I need you to teleport me to New York…" "Natasha!" he called out for her as well.

When Natasha entered the room with Marek she could see he was ready to act on his anger.

"Natasha…Sylar will be in town soon, I believe. When he is I need yeh to take care of 'im. Get 'im to trust yeh…then seek yer revenge on 'im, jus like we talked about."

She nodded to him but secretly inside she could already feel herself getting nervous. Natasha wasn't sure she could kill again, but kept reminding herself that it was for the good of others.

"I'm goin' to New York to find Peter Petrelli and make 'im pay fer what he has done. It will be quick 'cause I be fearin' dat others will be comin' fer me. Den we will say to the world who we are and what we can do," he explained his plans to the rest as they appeared in the room. "If der is any emergency, call me or come get me James. I can't allow anymore of yeh gettin' killed."

He sighed heavily and walked over to James...then the two disappeared for Manhattan. A silence fell over the room for a moment…

Marek went over to the woman on the couch, "I need help taking Isabel to the tomb."

Just then Omara stepped forward and put a hand on his shoulder, "I'll help you."

Together they moved Isabel just outside the house to the family tomb that was on the property.

"Isabel was a good woman. She would never hurt anyone…especially someone like us. We loved her unbroken spirit that rose above the tragedy of Katrina, the backlash endured upon her because she had the guts to use her gift, and the torture at Building 26. May she rest now forever in peace," Marek spoke before covering her with a shroud.

**Manhattan, NY- Peter Petrelli **

It was a gloomy day outside and in Peter's apartment as the curtains were drawn shut. His phone was in pieces after throwing it against the wall when it rang that morning. It was Claire calling first and he ignored it, but when his mother called he threw it; he didn't want to talk to anyone. Peter was numb and he couldn't sleep; the image of Isabel wouldn't leave his head. He killed her. He was now just as guilty as Sylar. What would Nathan think of him? Nathan…he missed him. Then grief joined in with his guilt making him feel even worse. All of these thoughts were swimming in his head.

He laid on his bed and stared up at the ceiling. "Stupid! Stupid!" Peter jumped up and punched a hole in his wall…realizing that Virgil and the others would be coming after him soon for revenge. There was no one he could blame for this…and he couldn't involve Claire, Toby, or the New Company in this to help him. He was alone now in defending himself against a powerful and enraged psychopath.

Then he heard that someone was at his door. At first he put a pillow over his head hoping to block out the sound, but whoever it was did not give up.

Reluctantly, Peter got out of bed and put on some pants. Looking through the peep hole he saw Toby. Part of him was glad it was him…and not his mother.

He opened up the door just a crack, "Hey…what you want?"

Toby turned his head looking at him, "dude, you don't look good. Are you taking care of yourself?"

"What are you talking about?" he put on a smile.

"Have you looked in a mirror Peter? You're pale, your eyes are red, and you look dehydrated. When was the last time you drank or ate something?" Toby questioned as he tried to get into the apartment to get a better look, but Peter wasn't letting him in.

"I'm fine. I just need to be left alone right now," Peter started to close the door but Toby put his foot in front of the door.

"Sorry, you know I can't do that. I was there Peter; I saw what happened...it was an accident. You never meant to kill her, so don't beat yourself up about this."

He glared back at his friend, "Oh really? I'm just supposed to move on? Forget? I killed someone Toby…I pushed her back with strength no normal person could ever have. Maybe deep inside I did want her dead, I don't know. You can't understand it…every time I close my eyes I see her looking at me with a look of horror on her face."

Toby could see Peter's hand was shaking as he went on, "maybe you should come back to work, clear your mind about this?"

"I can't..." Peter confessed, "I'm thinking about turning myself in to him. I was wrong…and I should pay the consequence of that crime."

"To Virgil? Are you nuts? That's suicidal; you know he'd torture you for the rest of your life. Peter, don't do that. Claire needs you, I need my partner, and the Company needs you. Think about all those people out there that have abilities and need our help. You're a savior, not a killer," Toby moved his foot away from the door knowing Peter wouldn't let him in.

"Yeah well that was before. Everyone is better off without me now," he closed the door on the Toby.

After sighing Toby reached into his pocket and took out his cell phone. He dialed Claire as he left the building.

"I saw him…he doesn't look good Claire. I don't know…a couple more days like this and he could die."

"What?" Claire's voice was loud with shock.

"He's not taking care of himself: not eating, drinking, sleeping, or staying warm. It's supposed to get pretty damn cold these next couple of nights. I think he's trying to punish himself for what happened to Isabel. He is thinking about giving himself up to Virgil."

"We can't let that happen…we need to help him Toby. My dad is going to Louisiana tonight; perhaps he can prevent Virgil from coming here. I wanted to tell him what happened but I just couldn't do it."

"I know Claire. Peter's stubborn; he might even try to go back to Louisiana. He wouldn't let me inside and there isn't much we can do. Look…why don't you go by there later and check on him? I gotta get to work. Call me if he gets worse."

Claire agreed and hanged up. She already tried getting advice from her dad with no luck, since there was no way she was going to let Angela get involved in this.

At nightfall Claire stopped by his apartment on her way home. She knocked on the door, but there was no answer…which she expected.

"Come on Peter it's me. Open up." She sighed and sat down by the door. "I know you're in there. I tried to call you but you didn't pick up. We can talk about this Peter; you don't have to be alone."

Peter could hear Claire at his door, sort of… Since Toby had left he started drinking. At first he drank all the beer he had in the fridge, but it wasn't enough, so he opened a large bottle of whisky. The apartment was also a much bigger disaster as he had torn it apart by throwing and smashing things. The only thing that seemed intact in his apartment was the toilet and shower.

At the moment, Claire's voice sounded like a dream being so far away from him. His body sat on the floor and he leaned against the wall with his right hand on the bottle. The liquid had no taste and his lips were numb with drunkenness. Peter stayed quiet; he didn't want Claire to know he was there and hoped that eventually she'd go away.


	7. Chapter 7: Over the Edge

Chapter 7: Over the Edge

**New Orleans, LA- Noah, Lazarus, and Sylar**

Noah was alone with his cell phone again, but this time speaking with Angela about the current situation:

"We arrived an hour ago. Sylar has agreed to join us and we're gonna need all the help we can get. I'm just not sure if I trust him enough Angela. For all I know he could be putting up an act. We need to keep in mind he must still be angry with us, Kate was definitely a reminder of that. Not to mention he was the one behind the murder at the port of Los Angeles. He blames Virgil for the incident, but I think it goes deeper than that. I understand his motivation right now to stop Virgil," he paused to chuckle. "Apparently his son came from the future and told him to work with us…"

Angela cut him sort, "You're afraid he's going to stop Virgil on his own? Or are you afraid that afterwards Sylar will leave right where he left off before he killed Nathan?"

Noah looked around and sighed, "I have every right to be concerned about both. Sylar has been killing again…I'm sure it wouldn't take much for him relapse completely."

"I know Noah but Sylar is our only hope to stopping Virgil at the moment. And if Sylar is telling the truth about his son then we know there is no other choice."

Noah agreed and was about to hang up but then he remembered Claire's call. "Did Claire contact you about Peter? She called me back in California saying Peter wasn't himself. I told her to call you."

"No I haven't heard a thing from either one of them. I tried to call Peter yesterday but he didn't pick up…I figured he had gone back to work. No worries, I'll go over there today and make sure everything is okay. You keep me informed. Bye Bennet."

"Bye" Noah closed his phone. He didn't think much of Peter's strange mood since it was to be expected.

Noah walked out of the lobby and back up the hotel room where Lazarus and Sylar were. He was hesitant walking in…his past experiences with Sylar made him prepared for the worst behind a closed door. When he walked in the card key went back into his pocket.

Sitting there on the couch next to each other was Lazarus with a razor blade in her hand and Sylar flipping channels on the tv. It was an odd yet normal scene.

"Lazarus, where did you get that? What are you doing?" Noah was a little disturbed seeing her use a razor blade to make figures into her skin before they closed up and healed completely.

"Dying is an art, like everything else. I do it exceptionally well. I do it so it feels like hell. I do it so it feels real. I guess you could say I've a call," Lazarus quoted as she drew a star.

Noah is impressed by her quoting of Sylvia Plath, but was tempted to take the razor away from her anyways.

Sylar looked over at Bennet and laughed, "it's normal for people like us…thought with your daughter being regenerative you'd be used to it by now."

Lazarus smiled and pointed at Sylar, "He gets me. Noah seems surprised by everything I do...like I'm some strange case he needs to solve. Even though I don't think there is anything wrong with me..."

Noah frowned, "anything wrong with you? What made you think that?"

Lazarus removed something she had been hiding behind her. It was his notebook, with the notes he had taken of her on the plane. She tossed it on the floor and let it speak for itself.

Noah looked at Sylar; he had a cheeky grin on his face. Already he was starting trouble.

"You had no right to go through my things," He bent down to pick it up.

Lazarus stood with the razor in her hand and held it to Noah's neck. "Don't I? I'm your partner. I trusted you…but I guess I can't say the same for you. How's this for unstable Mr. B?"

Sylar sat back a moment to watch this play out. By the looks of it, Bennet deserved what was coming for him…in his opinion.

"Put the blade down Lazarus. I trust you…do you think I'd bring you here to Louisiana if I didn't?"

"No I don't you would. The big boss trusts me. Actually I think you're the one here who's unstable," she smiled. "Sylar tells me you're just as much of a killer as the two of us. Is that true?"

Noah looked away a moment. He knew he could take down Lazarus easily, but do so would ruin everything…she would never trust him ever again. "Yes, I've made some mistakes in my past."

"Ahhh now we're getting to know each other Mr. B. But I think you need to pay for what you've said behind my back…" Lazarus lowered the razor.

Sylar quickly jumped up, "Stop." He used his ability to separate the two to different sides of the room. "Just apologize to her Bennet. The girl does have a point."

He glared at him but put up his hands, "I'm sorry I doubted you Lazarus. I was only concerned about you."

She gave him a strange look, but then smiled, "Good. Now what's for breakfast? I'm starving!"

Sylar chuckled and used his ability to throw the room service menu towards her. "We're eating in…we've got some planning to do before we can leave the hotel. Most likely Virgil knows we're here and they'll be watching us."

Noah agreed and placed his notebook back in his bag before taking a seat.

Sylar had an idea, "I'm gonna see if there is a way for us to be better prepared. Maybe I can get a vision about what's to come."

He left the room and took a glass from the counter before closing the bathroom door behind him. He filled the glass with water and took a drink of water before he gazed into the mirror.

It didn't take long for the scenery behind his reflection to fade away and start changing. Sylar began to look at what he could of the vision presented to him in the mirror. There were clocks everywhere…but everywhere was nowhere. The clocks hanged from void black spaces. It was usual compared to other visions he had seen in the past…this was not the real world, but it was still trying to tell him something.

'This ability must be changing somehow…why haven't I notice this before?' he thought.

As he traveled around this strange vision he came upon a mirror hanging alone. And at that moment all the clocks around him went silent…As he drew closer to the mirror it wasn't himself he was looking at, but the reflection was of Peter Petrelli.

Sylar felt pulled out of his vision as he regained his sight and looked around. "What does Peter Petrelli have to do with this?" he whispered.

This vision raised more questions than answers, but he did know what the clocks stopping must have meant…Peter was going to die soon.

**Manhattan, NY: Peter's Apartment **

Toby was on his way to work when he decided to stop by Peter's apartment to see if he had changed his mind. When he knocked on the door there was no answer.

"Peter open up man; we need to talk about this," Toby pushed his ear to the door hoping to hear a response, but there was none. This started to scare him and he felt the need to get inside his apartment to check on him, otherwise he wouldn't be able to focus the rest of the day.

He looked at his watch; there was still some time before he had to clock in. So Toby checked to make sure no one was around...then he pushed in the door with his foot to gain entrance. His immediate reaction once inside was to gasp at the mess inside. There were broken chair legs, pieces of what was a phone, and other items that were not recognizable.

"Peter! Can you hear me?" At first he feared someone had robbed and tore the place apart, however Peter's current ability of enhanced strength ruled that out.

Toby ran through the apartment looking for him and he finally found Peter unconscious on the kitchen floor.

"Oh my god!" He rushed down to his side and felt for his pulse. It was shallow and sporadic. Quickly he pulled out his cell phone and called for an ambulance.

"Come on Pete…stay with me." Toby checked his eyes and both pupils were fully dilated and he could smell the alcohol on him. "How much did you drink?"

Of course Peter was unable to respond. There was so much trash everywhere that it was impossible to tell how many empty bottles were there. For the time being Toby put towels on him, hoping to prevent hypothermia as Peter's lips were blue. Luckily it didn't take long for their friends to respond to the call.

"Hey guys, in here! I found him like this. He's been unconscious since I got here."

Two of their friends arrived with a stretcher and supplies, getting fluid into Peter's body and trying to stabilize him. They seemed shocked at the mess his apartment was in, but their focus was more on treating Peter.

Toby rode with them to the hospital, which was not far. Things weren't looking good and Toby was panicking as he worked to get him stabilized.

"He's starting to seize," one of them said as Peter's body violently shook on the stretcher.

"Step on it!" Toby yelled to the driver, "He's gonna code if we don't get him there now."

When they did arrive Peter had stopped seizing and was still barely breathing as they wheeled him into the ER. Toby started to follow but was noticed by a nurse who pulled him out.

Nervously he watched from the tiny window of the door that separated the waiting room from the ER. It was difficult to see but he could hear the alarms go off as Peter stopped breathing. The two paramedics that were with him stayed for a moment with him, and they were confused with what had just happened to their friend.

"How the hell did this happen man? He seemed fine the other day." one of them asked Toby.

Toby was forced to lie, "His brother, I think he's still taking his loss hard. Combined with the stress of the job…it adds up you know?"

They nodded and patted him on the back, "Let us know alright? Boss needs us back out there but once our shifts done we'll be in."

Toby didn't watch them leave; his eyes were still looking to the ER where they were trying to resuscitate Peter.

"Where's my son?" Toby heard a familiar voice frantically asking a nurse that did make him turn around.

"What's your son's name Ma'am?" she asked kindly but received a dirty look from Angela.

"Don't Ma'am me, he works here. His name is Peter."

"Ms. Petrelli?" Toby called out to her.

"Yes. You're Toby aren't you?" Angela walked over to him.

"Yeah…" he was a little shocked she remembered his name. "He's being treated in there, but we can't see him yet. How did you know come here?"

"Mother's instinct," She smiled. "You're the one that found him?"

"Yeah…I stopped by to check on him. I was there the day before…but I never thought he'd do something like this."

"You might be the one who saved his life. I tried calling him yesterday, but he never answered his phone."

"That's because there is no phone. When I found him…the apartment was trashed. At first I thought he was robbed." Toby sighed and tightened his fist, "I'm sorry Ms. Petrelli, but it doesn't look good."

"Do you know what's wrong with him?"

"I'm pretty sure it's alcohol poisoning. I could smell it on him...he's been unconscious and barely breathing…there was some onset of hypothermia. He also had a seizure on the way to the hospital..." It took a moment for Toby to realize what he was saying. Had this been any other patient the prognosis at this point would be death from heart failure, plain and simple.

Toby looked back to the window but instead was met by the doctor.

"He's still in critical condition. We were able to revive him but there has been some damage to his heart and brain...it's difficult to determine how severe. You may go in and see him after we move him to the ICU, but he's in a coma and won't be able to respond.

**The New Company HQ- Claire Bennet**

Claire walked through the New Company undetected as a cause for concern. She acted as though she was retrieving something her father had asked her for…at least that was her excuse for being there. Honestly Claire was there because she wanted to learn more about her father's new partner, Lazarus. It was impossible for her to sleep the night before as she was worried about Peter and her father's safety. While she had tried to speak to Peter with no luck she decided to do some research on the girl. Something about her just wasn't right and she knew her dad wasn't telling her something.

Quietly she got into his office after guessing the right code to open the door. She closed it behind her and shut the blinds as well to hide what she was up to. Claire began to go through his desk looking for her file, which had to be around there somewhere. That somewhere just happened to be the first drawer in his desk. Quickly she read through some of the little notes with her brow raised.

"She came from an institution?" she couldn't believe it, but her release date was only a few days ago causing her to be more concerned.

Claire unclipped some of the attached items, which was a police report and crime scene photos of a man lying in blood who looked unrecognizable.

"Tina was alleged to have murdered the man with a small knife. It is believed that he slowly bled to death from multiple lacerations? Why the hell did they let you out?" She questioned out loud.

She read further at the notes from her doctor. They spoke about different session in which Tina talked about murder, fantasies of killing more people and her infatuation with death and pain. Claire couldn't help but see the girl she met earlier in a whole different light; she was insane…unstable and deeply twisted. What frightened her more was that she was working with her father out there in Louisiana. Her father had good reason not to tell her all of this, because there was no way she going to let this stand.

Claire took out her cell phone and dialed Peter hoping to tell him about this. Unfortunately the call went straight to voicemail so she tried the next best thing…Toby.

"Hey Toby…it's Claire, I really need your help with something…"

Toby's tone of voice of cold, "Peter's in a coma…I'm at the hospital right now with Angela."

Her heart must have stopped for a moment, "why didn't you call me! He needs my help…I'll be right over there." She didn't explain anything, but if Peter could borrow her ability he'd be good as new…it's not like this was the first time he was hurt and needed her help.

Claire went to the door, accidently leaving the files out on the desk in her panic.

"Now…jus where do yeh dink yer goin' darlin'?" Virgil stood just behind the door as she opened it.

She had no idea who he was, but he didn't look like an employee there. "Who the hell are you?"

He grinned at first, "Oh yeh are precious. Yeh know who I be...I'm the one who owns the house you and yer friends decided to con yer way into by lyin' to my family and murdered my wo'man."

Claire looked at him in shock, "Virgil…" Her mind now began to wonder how she was going to make her escape. The window perhaps? She still had her phone and took it out in hopes of dialing Toby back.

He nodded, "ahhh That's right. Now don' be thinkn' about leavin' jus yet." Virgil saw her fingers dialing on the phone. He snapped it out of her hands and crushed it with his foot. "Yeh see I'm lookn' for Peter. I knew yeh wouldn't let me be and I warned 'em all. Now I watched yeh sneak into 'ere, why would ya do a thing like that? Don't yeh work here?"

Claire folded her arms across her chest, "No. I needed information…that has nothing to do with you."

"Oh does it now?" Virgil waved his hand taking away Claire's ability to see in order to keep her there until he'd figure out what she was up to.

On the desk he saw a file; the girls name looked familiar to him. "Tina…now it's funny…the day I go to find her it turns out she's gone. How does a crazy person just vanish right? Course she did'nt. A man...Noah Bennet took her out and dis address was what they'd givn' me. Your father yes?"

Claire felt around trying to find the door but wasn't having any luck. "She's a twisted killer. Now let me go!"

Virgil laughed, "Is she now? Claire you coulda been her, if yeh know what I mean? Same ability…she jus didn' 'ave a protective father like yeh have. Also I'm not holdn' you against yer will Claire. But now that ye mention it…I think I will. And I'm gonna get the answers I need."

He moved toward her and looked her in the eyes, "all the secrets are in der, eyes are mysterious. The windows to yer soul."

"What the hell are you getting at?" She was growing frustrated.

"I'm seein' what yer eyes 'ave seen Claire. Seein' where Peter lives and anythin' else that might be useful."

When he finished he looked at her again…there was no way he could just let her go. So he took out his cell phone and called James. He told him the address and a second later he arrived in the room.

"Hi James. Recognize dis girl?"

James made a fist and glared at Claire, "I do..."

"I need yeh to take her somewhere she won't be able to cause trouble. Her sight will be comin' back soon."

James nodded and disappeared with Claire…

A blind Claire found herself alone. The floor beneath her felt as if it was moving. "Where am I?" she tried to ask James but there was no response…he was already gone.

Virgil smiled as James reappeared, "What did ye do with her?"

James smiled, "She won't be a problem for anyone. She's on a cruise ship…out to sea in the Mediterranean.

"Nice, thank you James," Virgil waited for him to leave before heading out to Peter's apartment.

**New Orleans, LA- Natasha **

Natasha left the plantation with Mary and Kim for the afternoon to explore her surroundings. She had spent the morning learning the ropes and getting to know everyone and now she needed some time to discover New Orleans on her own. Also she wanted to put Virgil's mission for her out of her mind as she was stressing on the matter.

Mary and Kim said they always visited a woman in the city who owned a soup kitchen and they went there to hang out with some of the people. Natasha hopped a ride with them and went their separate ways once they arrived.

The city was full of life, even in the day time it seemed. The jazz musicians were plenty busy hoping for tips and filling the air with soulful music. She walked down the street and felt drawn to a little shop with cookbooks. It was actually a secret desire of hers to learn how to cook different regional foods. So she went inside and found a book with fairly simple recipes she figured she would try out once she returned back home to Los Angeles.

As Natasha was leaving the shop she came face to face with a familiar man that made her gasp and freeze in surprise.

"Natasha?" asked the man in the long black coat holding and ice cream cup. It seemed he was just passing by the shop as she was exiting it.

"Sylar. What are you doing here?" Natasha knew it was to come after Virgil as he had warned her, however she acted naïve.

He laughed, "Don't play dumb. You know why I'm here." Sylar sighed as he looked at her. She was a reminder of his relapse, his failure to protect her from Virgil. "There is something you need to know. Last time…that wasn't me, Virgil did something to me. He wanted you to be afraid of me, he triggered my hunger and I couldn't control myself."

Natasha turned her head to the side, "you tried to kill me…"

"And what about now?" Sylar threw up his hands.

She took a step back, "there are people around."

"You know that's not true, if I wanted to kill you I would have…I'd do it right here and no one would be able to stop me," Sylar took a step closer. "I had a vision about you; before we met in Los Angeles…you had my name on a piece of paper."

Natasha was getting a little creeped out by this, but he was right…nothing before had stopped him from killing on a busy street. "I told you…I wanted your help. Virgil saved me from you…he brought me here, says he'll protect me from you. Also that he'll help me control my abilities."

Sylar shook his head, "Lies…Virgil wants the world to know what we can do. It's dangerous and stupid. It will bring war and death for half the planet."

"He also said you're a liar…you manipulate your victims into trusting you," Natasha had made up her mind, she touched his face.

"You're a killer Sylar…if it wasn't for Virgil I wouldn't be here. I'm sorry…but I have to do this…"

Sylar began to feel as if he was being drained of energy as her touch became cold on his face.

"What are you doing to me?" He choked.

"Taking away your soul…surprisingly you have one. Now you'll slowly rot without one and your healing ability won't be able to stop it. I'm doing this because Virgil is right…you won't be able to hurt anymore people. Goodbye Sylar…"

Natasha disconnected from him by moving her hand. It was done. She didn't expect it to be this easy, but it was probably the only way to do this without getting hurt. As she walked away she wanted to look back...she wanted to see what her ability would do to someone like Sylar. Natasha resisted. She left from that area as fast as possible. Looking down at her hands she felt like she had made a positive difference with her abilities.

Meanwhile Lazarus was accompanying Sylar out that afternoon but had stopped off somewhere to look around. When she saw Sylar it relieved her as she had been looking around for him.

"There you are! Geeze I thought I was gonna have to…Are you okay?" She gave a confused look as he looked sickly.

"We need to go back to the hotel. Change of plan…" Sylar could feel a void within himself. It was strange feeling so weak, "that stupid bitch! She did something to me…Noah will know."


	8. Chapter 8: Race against Time

Chapter 8: Race against Time

**New York Hospital- Peter, Angela, and Toby**

Toby was sitting in the corner of the room looking on while Angela sat next to Peter's bed. She was holding his hand tightly, rubbing his knuckles in hopes of waking her son.

"What's taking Claire so long? She can help Peter, loan him her ability and then we'll go from there…" Angela took out her phone and called her cell phone again.

When Claire failed to answer Angela looked at Toby, "She's not answering. Something isn't right here and I have a feeling you know what's going on."

Toby was surprised by this sudden accusation. "I uh…" he looked at Peter and weighed the consequences. Not telling Angela that they went to Louisiana would mean lying…and he knew not to lie to a precog. It was no use hiding the truth anymore, Peter was dying and Claire was missing…Toby felt pressured to tell her the truth.

"Peter saw Virgil's file when we were going through with plans for a safe house. I was searching the database for people that might be able to help, you know? When I found the locked file Peter and I were curious. We cracked the password and read the file. Peter decided that we needed to stop him, so it became the three of us and we went to Louisiana to find his home. Things went horribly wrong there…Virgil wasn't there but managed to find his crew. Peter accidently…well…Isabel, the one that can see the future was trying to touch Peter. We didn't want Isabel to know our plans…but she managed to touch him. When she did so she screamed and he pushed her away, however she fell backwards and snapped her neck on hitting a table. We escaped barely and came back home….but Peter hasn't been the same since, he blames himself for her accidental death. I tried to talk to him, tried to get him to come to work but he wouldn't leave that damn apartment."

"You guys were being selfish…You three had no business going there." Angela spat and started to call Noah, knowing he had to know this information:

"Hi Noah, I'm at the hospital. Peter is in a coma. But there is something else you need to know first. Peter, Toby, and Claire went to Virgil's house a few days ago while he was still in California."

"What? Claire never mentioned this, what were they doing down there? How did they even know about this? About him?" Noah paced the hotel room; thoughts of Claire's safety now plagued him.

"Through the database of specials at the Company; Peter and Toby happened upon Virgil's file and they went to Louisiana. I'm just finding this out now, it appears an accident occurred and Virgil's girlfriend is dead. Noah, you know Virgil is going to blame Peter for this." She thought carefully before going further, "He might already have Claire; she's not answering her cell phone. With Peter it's more complicated and urgent matter. He's gone out of control and he's going to die if something isn't done." She paused, "I'm sending someone there to bring all of you here. Peter needs to borrow Tina's ability."

He was still trying to take this all in. "Alright," Noah said and gave her the location of the hotel they were staying at. "I'll tell the others when they get back. Don't worry Angela Peter will be fine."

Angela didn't feel any better when she ended the call.

"Are they coming?" Toby asked.

"Yes, let's just hope they get here before Virgil does," she said grimly.

**New Orleans, LA- Noah, Lazarus, and Sylar**

"Mr. B!" Lazarus called out and banged her fist on the door. She was running out of energy as she helped Sylar to the hotel room door.

It had been a long journey to the hotel as Sylar pushed her away a dozen times, claiming he didn't need her help. It was obvious he needed assistance when he clutched his stomach in pain every so often. At one point Lazarus feared she'd have to leave him there and get Bennet because it seemed Sylar was losing energy fast.

When Noah opened the door he wasn't sure what to expect. He let them in and locked the door behind them, not trusting that they weren't followed there.

"What happened now?" He addressed both of them.

Sylar fell back on the chair, his hands were shaking and his skin never looked so pale.

Lazarus was still trying to calm herself down, "I don't know…I found him like this."

"Virgil got to her…That women…I tried to help her in Los Angeles and Virgil got to her. She did something to me!" Sylar tried to explain.

Noah was confused; he feared that Sylar had lost his abilities. "You mean you're healing abilities aren't working?"

"No…obviously…" he glared at him. "Her name is Natasha."

Noah went over to his laptop quickly started a search of the Company database for a Natasha…there were 3 before he narrowed it down to Los Angeles residents.

Lazarus stood behind Noah as a candid photo appeared of Natasha, next to her tracker profile.

"Her ability is soul extraction…I see now. The only way to reverse it is to make her give it back to you. But we've got a short window until it won't work." Noah took off his glasses and pinched the bridge of his nose. "I just got a call from Angela. Virgil is in New York. Until now my plan was to leave, but now…we need to find Natasha and make her give you back your soul."

Sylar chuckled, "he's gone after Peter hasn't he? About time someone else smacked him around."

Noah got up and rushed towards Sylar in anger, but Lazarus quickly stepped in front of him.

"Back off Mr. B…Chill out." She looked him dead in the eyes, completely unafraid of the man.

Noah raised a brow and was about to say something. Instead went back to his computer and sat down.

While he continued to gather information about Natasha, Lazarus sat by Sylar.

"You're afraid aren't you?" she asked him.

Sylar didn't turn to look at her as he was deep in a blank stare. "Part of it is my fault…I had the chance to prevent this and I couldn't. I understand why she did this to me…I lost control and almost killed her. Virgil came and they ran off. I'm not a very likeable guy…you might say," he gave a sly grin.

Lazarus smiled, "I understand where you're coming from." Her smile faded however, as she saw Sylar close his eyes and twist his face in pain. "What's it feel like?"

"Like dying from the inside out. It hurts even to breathe."

Lazarus stood up, "I'm going after this bitch…" She grabbed Noah's gun from the table and headed to the door.

"No you don't Lazarus…get back here," Noah ordered.

She stopped with her hand on the door knob, "give me one good reason not to."

"I need you to go to New York and help Peter…He's dying. If he can absorb your ability he'll live." Noah closed the computer and looked at her hoping she wouldn't walk out that door.

"Me save someone? Mr. B you got the wrong indestructible girl..." Lazarus opened the door.

He looked at her disappointed but spoke quickly, "Claire is missing. You're the only one that can do this Lazarus. Someone will be here soon to pick you up and take you to New York."

She turned around and let the door close behind her. Lazarus looked at both of them, "I don't know…Why should I help him? I don't even know him."

"Peter is a good man. He's made mistakes just like you and he doesn't deserve to die from them. He's Angela's son."

"The big boss?" Lazarus considered this new information. She knew Angela was the reason she was free now from the center. It was just the concept of her saving someone that bothered her: what if he was wrong? What if she couldn't save him? The thought of the chance for failure and responsibility bothered her.

Sylar didn't seem to be paying attention, but Lazarus didn't want to leave him. Noah noticed this and addressed it.

"Don't worry about him…I'll find her and fix this. Just go help Peter…please?"

There was a knock on their hotel door. Noah rose from his seat and waited to hear what Lazarus had decided. There was the option of making her go, but he didn't want them to start off on a bad foot.

She couldn't believe Noah had just said please. The knock at the door had frightened her at first, but she knew it was her "ride". At this point she decided there was still time to change her mind. "Fine…I'll go."

He was relieved. "Good. You will need to get there and help him before Virgil finds them," Noah said as he went to the door and checked the peephole before letting in Andrew.

"Lazarus, this is Andrew. He has the ability to fly and will be able to transport you to New York faster than any plane ever can."

She gave a weak smile, but didn't love the idea of riding on his back high above the ground. "Right…" Lazarus looked around, still unsure about the whole idea. "Alright Andrew let's go. Bye Sylar…Mr. B."

Once out of the hotel Andrew flew them off quickly to New York. Lazarus held onto him tight and covered her eyes with his sweatshirt. Her heart was pounding with adrenaline and uncertainty...she could feel her doubts starting to rise back to the surface. As they flew she started to make a plan. Once Andrew wasn't looking she'd take off running…no one would be able to find her a crowd. The only thing that was stopping her was a question: What then? She had no money…to place to stay…and a tracking chip in her neck. Lazarus felt trapped.

**New York Hospital Dreamscape- Peter Petrelli**

As he laid unconscious, Peter was dreaming. But these were not just any dreams…these were visions of the future. After his mother held his hand her ability was absorbed into him and he began to dream of HER. That's all he could really describe her as he had never seen her before. Also there was something about her that puzzled him...some mysterious element to her. The vision played over and over as his mind was unable to make it stop and function correctly.

Peter would start to feel his surroundings and hear whisperings. Then a small and unfamiliar hand could be felt cupping his cheek. The strength in him had begun to rise as he slowly started to open his eyes. Through his rested eyes he saw her… a young woman standing over him. Her dark features were earthly but it was the emotion of her face that told a story all its own. Her eyes were so full of concern and shock when he opened his eyes.

Confusion had set in for him, "Where am I? Mom?" Peter looked over and saw his mom there with Toby close by. They looked tired and it made Peter wonder how long he had been there…where ever there was.

"Peter…you're in a hospital. Toby found you on the floor of your apartment. Tina was able to help you heal using your abilities," his mother informed.

He noticed the glare the woman gave his mom when she mentioned her name. Peter wondered why…but he was still confused about other things. Looking back at the woman she seemed still in shock and unable to speak when stood there.

"Are you okay?" Peter asked her.

Lazarus shook her head and took off running out of the room. Peter sat up quickly, pulling on the machines that were connected to him. Quickly he started pulling things off.

"Hey what are you doing man?" Toby jumped over.

"I need to follow her. I don't know why…just something I noticed, but I feel like I have to. Where are my clothes?"

Peter's dreams continued on and off with periods of darkness in between. It seemed the longer he dreamt the shorter and more fragmented the vision became. However through this vision he was able to gather what had happened to him and what was going to happen soon. At least he hoped they were true.

**Peter's Apartment- Virgil Dupree**

Vigil was outside Peter's apartment building as he slyly entered the building and went up the stairs, just as Claire saw it. His apartment was at the end of the hall and Virgil slowed down as he saw a man standing in the hall.

As he walked closer to Peter's door the man spoke up.

"You a friend of Peter's?"

Virgil put on a brief smile, "Yeh…I'm in town and I thought I'd say 'ello."

"Oh...Well you won't be finding him here. An ambulance took him away not long ago. He didn't look to good either. I don't know what happened, but I can say it sounded like a fight was going on in there. I was close to calling the police, but figured I'd let him be."

"Do yeh know which hospital dey took 'em to?"

The man sighed and shook his head, "Sorry pal, I didn't ask. Pete's a real good guy though, I hope he's okay. He's a paramedic you know? One of the best, I've heard."

Virgil was starting to lose his patience with the guy. Luckily the man was suddenly in a hurry to leave once he checked his watch for the time.

"I wish I could help you man, but I gotta run to my sister's house. I'll be praying for him." The man said before leaving down the hall.

Once he was alone, Virgil went back to the door and felt the knob…it was unlocked. A smile crept onto his face and he gained entry to Peter's apartment, and then shut the door behind him. Looking around he didn't know what to make of it…it was a disaster, as if a hurricane had swept through the place. The man was right about one thing, it did look like a fight had taken place.

He got on his cell phone and called Marek: "I gotta job fer yah. I need yah to check the hospital databases for a Peter Petrelli."

As Marek did that Virgil asked about the others, to which he replied: "Natasha just came back from the city. She took care of Sylar."

He smiled, "That's great. She's gonna do jus fine wit us."

Marek's hand was placed on the computer as his mind did the searching and suddenly Peter's ER chart was revealed on the monitor.

"I've got him. He's at New York Downtown Hospital on William Street and Beekman. He's in the ICU". He read further, "are you sure this is your guy Virgil?"

He wasn't sure why Marek was doubting him, "Peter Petrelli, why?"

"He's not in good shape right now. I'm sorry Virgil but it seems he might die before you even get to him."

He looked around the apartment, "oh it's him. I'm not sure what happened, but I don' care, I jus want Petrelli to pay fer what happened to my Izzy."

Virgil closed his phone and left Peter's apartment for the hospital, using his phone's GPS.


	9. Chapter 9: Tragic Heroes

Chapter 9: Tragic Heroes

**Naples, Italy- Claire Bennet **

"Hello?" Claire called out in the empty cabin. "Where the hell am I?"

Cautiously she stood up and felt around for clues until her sight was regained. She could feel a bed next to her and a tv bolted to the low ceiling. Then she felt she room move to the right…and then slowly to the left.

"Woaah" Claire lost her balance and fell back on the bed.

Now an unfamiliar voice filled the cabin, "Good morning, this is your captain speaking to remind you that we we're currently pulling into port. We will be docking for nine hours and we ask that you be back on the ship an hour prior to departure as a precaution. We hope you enjoy your stay in Naples and be safe."

"Naples? As in Italy Naples?" Claire sat up and opened her eyes again. Things around her were blurry as her eyes repaired themselves.

Claire wished she had cell phone right then…but she knew what she had to do now, which was get off the ship and call her dad for help.

"Peter…" she cursed, "He's going after him…shit I need to warn them if it's not too late already." Now it hurt more than ever to know something was wrong with Peter and that Virgil was after him.

As Claire waited she thought about what Virgil had told her. She remembered meeting Lazarus, the first person she ever met with the same ability has her. But they were nothing alike, Lazarus was a killer, she was mentally unstable, and worse she was invincible. Claire dismissed what he said, that she could have turned out like Lazarus. This comparison she had heard before with Elle, the company girl.

Once she was able to see, Claire left the cabin and hurried off to the unloading area where people were waiting in line to get off the ship. She noticed that everyone had a card that was slipped into a box and their picture would come up. Searching her pockets she found no card, of course. Now it didn't look like they were going to let her off the ship without one.

She left the line and pulled out the twenty dollar bill she did have. Claire went to one of the shops on the ship and bought a phone card, then headed to a phone that was available in a lounge.

Calling her dad meant telling the truth….that she had lied to him. The phone rang twice before he picked up.

"Dad?"

"Claire! Where are you? Are you okay?" Noah quickly asked.

"Yeah, I'm fine. I'm pretty sure I'm in Italy…and on a ship that I can't get off of." She sighed, "Dad there's something I need to tell you. I lied to you about what's wrong with Peter and…"

"It's alright Claire, I know what happened. I talked to Angela and Toby told her what happened. The important thing is that you're safe, that's all I care about right now…and getting you home."

"What about Peter? I got a call from Toby just before Virgil showed up and had one of his guys teleport me. I need to help Peter…." Claire caught her breath.

"I sent Lazarus to help him. Peter should be able to use her power to heal himself and hopefully in time to get away from Virgil."

"You sent HER?" Claire's voice made everyone in the room turn to look at her. She lowered her voice to a whisper, "she's a murderer dad, what makes you think she's not going to help Virgil? I read her file…I know what kind of monster she is."

Noah lost his patience with her once he discovered she had gone behind his back and read her file. "It's not your call Claire. I had to send her to help Peter and it's done."

Claire was silent for a moment as she thought it over and realized she had no control over the situation. Her anger was still dictating her words and she couldn't help but throw in a jab.

"Are you going to send someone to come get me? Or are you just going to adopt Lazarus as your new pincushion daughter?" Claire spat.

Noah shifted his weight in frustration and gave it his all not to yell back at her.

"You know that's not true Claire. Now tell me what ship you're on? I'm going to send Andrew to come get you and take you back to New York."

She didn't want to talk to him anymore, but she needed to get home to Peter somehow. Claire looked at the phone that had the name on it. "Voyager of the Seas…I'll be in the ships lounge."

Claire hanged up the phone and took a seat waiting impatiently to help Peter stop Virgil. Then a look of disgust came to her face as she thought about Lazarus helping Peter…would she even do it?

**Harvey, Louisiana- Marek, Omara, Natasha, Mercedes, James, Kim and Mary**

Marek received a text message from Virgil. "Guys…It's Virgil."

The others quickly gathered around to hear what he had to say. Marek read the message loud and clear: "[Tell the others 2 start without me. Start the revolution. I know u guys are ready. Join u when I'm done]"

They all looked each other and knew what this meant. This was the main event…this was what Virgil had been preparing them for, although he was supposed to be there it. Among them was a mixture of excitement, anticipation, and anxiety. Many of them didn't think this moment would ever arrive since Virgil was worried about the man named Sylar.

James smiled and grabbed Mercedes by the hand, "Come on baby…let's show the world who has the power."

Just as he said that they disappeared from the house to the streets of New Orleans to fulfill Virgil's wish.

Mary looked at her sister and they decided to leave as well. Kim already had a grand plot to set the drunkards on fire for all their nasty sin. That was the one thing Kim could not stand…ever since a man groped her on the street, she vowed to take action against them first. While Mary on the other hand planned to go to the gulf and break fishermen nets with a small knife to cause a little trouble this way.

Marek knew just how to show the world what he could do…he wanted to make the poor rich, he wanted to make the city and all its lights go dark. Grabbing his keys he waited for Omara and Natasha to join him…however Natasha seemed hesitant to join them.

"What's the matter with her?" he asked Omara.

Omara spoke to him at a whisper so she couldn't hear. "She doesn't believe this is right."

He shook his head in disappointment, "Well she should have thought about that before she joined us. Make her join us…" Marek said before walking away to truck.

Omara sat back down next to Natasha and touched her shoulder, "Are you sure you don't want to come with us?"

Natasha looked at her strangely, "You want me to kill thousands of people? Just so that the world will know about us? No…I can't do it! It's wrong, there is a better way."

She frowned, "sorry hun, that's not your choice to make." Omara looked into her eyes, "You're going to follow Virgil's orders and you are going to use your ability to their full potential against anyone that stands in our way."

Omara stood up, "Let's go, Marek's waiting."

Natasha nodded and followed her to the truck with a grin now on her face.

**Outside the New York Hospital- Lazarus **

She stood outside the hospital as Andrew flew off in haste to pick up Claire after getting the call from Noah. Lazarus folded her arms across her chest and felt anxious about entering the hospital.

Looking around she realized she was free…she could leave. Lazarus turned away from the hospital and started walking down the street. She made it to the corner when she started to think about the guy she was supposed to help. Looking over her shoulder she noticed an ambulance arrive and someone was rushed inside on a stretcher. Lazarus could feel something in her gut telling her to go inside and help that man, so she started walking back to the hospital.

When she walked in she recognized Angela standing there waiting for her.

"Come, come…Peter's got his own room now. We must hurry."

Lazarus felt her hand on her shoulder as she was led through the doors and into a private room.

"This is my son, Peter," she introduced her to him. "My son has abilities like you, he can replicate them. All you have to do is touch him…and this should work." Angela knew it was possible that it might not because it really hadn't been tested before if he was capable of replication in this state.

Lazarus frowned looking at Angela then walked over to Peter's side. She felt her emotions come to the surface, emotions she hadn't felt in a long time. Her left hand held his right hand tight and she waited…but nothing happened. Lazarus sat next to him on his bed in silence until Angela began sobbing.

She didn't want to give up; she didn't want to let Angela down. "Come on Peter," She leaned in and whispered to him…gently holding his cheek. "I'm not sure how this works" she admitted to herself looking at his closed eyes.

"You did great," he responded squeezing her hand in return before opening his eyes.

Lazarus jumped back in surprise seeing him awake and visibly healthy. Angela rushed to his bed to hug him and the mood in the room made a complete turnaround.

Slowly she backed away…unsure of what just happened. Lazarus didn't know what to do next…She didn't want praise or thanks from anyone…she knew she was undeserving of it, so she took off out of the room running away. She was running from their happiness and familial love.

"Wait! Stop!" Peter shouted as he quickly removed all the monitors from his body, "Toby where's my clothes?"

His friend handed him a pair of clothes Angela had brought for him once he was healed. It took him only a few seconds to change into them and rush after her.

"Why are you running?" he asked once he caught up to her in front of the hospital.

Lazarus had stopped running when suddenly she couldn't see anymore. There was nothing but darkness around her and she felt her eyes carefully. Then she felt something wet and thick streaming down her cheeks from them. She turned towards him, "I can't see…"

Peter looked at her hands first and saw the drops of blood on them, which were coming from her eyes that were clogged with blood.

"I know…It's Virgil, he's found us." Peter pulled her close to him for protection and to keep her from running again.

"Come out Virgil…Show yourself! I know you're here!"

Virgil stood up from sitting on a cement bench, "Right here…So you be the one that killed my Izzy?" He raised his hand up, causing the blood vessels in Peter's eyes to tighten.

Peter gasped in pain, but he knew the damage would heal…as Lazarus could.

"I didn't kill her, I pushed her back…she slipped and fell. I did not push her into that table," Peter was partly trying to convince himself of the truth.

"Yeh lie! They blame you fer her death! Besides…" he walked closer to Peter, "I can see it all here…in yer eyes Petrelli."

Vigil looked into Peter's eyes and began to see what happened. It broke him to see the look of panic on Isabel's face right before he pushed her back. He couldn't hear her scream…but he could see it all.

"She knew, poor Izzy…she s'aw somethin' in yeh. Her own death, BE'cause of yoo!" Virgil shouted and pushed Peter back with a punch to his jaw.

Peter could already feel the pain subsiding and he fought Virgil back with a fierce kick.

"I went there to stop you! Not her…not any of them! They were just victims of your crazy ideas!" Peter laughed.

Lazarus kept wiping her eyes and was finally able to see what was going on around her. Security was coming from inside the hospital to see what was going on.

"Well then give me yer best shot!" Virgil opened up his arms with a grin at Peter.

While Peter was still having trouble seeing, he was ready to fight Virgil with closed fists.

Lazarus quickly sneaked around behind Virgil for a surprise attack. It wasn't until too late that Peter figured out what she was up to…

Lazarus had her arms out and then put her hands around the Cajuns head tightly. Luckily he wasn't much taller than her and this enabled her in one swift motion to twist and break his neck.

A loud crack filled the silence as Peter, Lazarus, and a security guard watched Virgil's limp body fall to the cold ground. He was dead.

The security guard quickly drew his gun against her and told her to back away slowly from the body with her hands up.

She didn't hear the officer's orders…she was too busy staring down at Virgil. Something had just come over her and she killed him in what seemed like an instant. At the time she hadn't realized what she was doing until now, leaving her to be just as shocked as Peter. Her foot kicked his limp arm…making sure he was really dead.

"I said don't move!" the officer yelled.

Peter was still in shock but he knew this situation was bad…not only had she just killed someone, there were also many others were witnesses to it.

Angela and Toby were standing at the entrance behind the officer. Both looked on in confusion and amazement at the sight of the dead man who they both knew to be Virgil.

Toby was about to use his ability to control the police dog and make it attack the officer, but Angela stopped him and shook her head no. "There has been enough pain today."

Lazarus looked at the officer as he was calling for backup on his radio.

"What are you going to do? Shoot me? Go on…shoot me and I'll make sure you die a slow and painful death, like the man who killed my parents."

The officer's eyes widened at the threat and his finger slipped, causing him to fire a shot into her chest.

Everyone watching gasped as they realized the cops move was a mistake. He rushed to her as Lazarus fell to the ground bleeding out from her wound. However, she got back up to her feet and the officer stumbled backwards in surprise.

"Don't do this…" Peter walked over to her. "He's just doing his job."

Lazarus looked over at him "it hurts…" She looked down and felt the bullet fall out of its wound and close up.

"What kind of freak of nature are you?" the officer shook in terror and lowered his gun not sure what to do.

"What am I going to do? I can't go to jail…it was self-defense," Lazarus asked Peter, ignoring the officer's comment.

"I know," Peter looked to his mom and Toby then took Lazarus's hand, "we're gonna out run them."

Lazarus and Peter took off running away from the hospital and the officer reported that they were on the move. He gave a description of Lazarus as the murderer and of Peter as a person of interest.

"Always getting themselves into trouble," Angela sighed.

Toby felt kind of uncomfortable because he had been part of that trouble already. "Should we follow them?"

"Nonsense, Peter's going to meet us at the company. He knows that's where we'll be." Angela led the way to a cab. "Claire should also be there soon."

**New Orleans, LA- Noah Bennet and Sylar**

Sylar was curled up on the couch staring at the television when Noah came back into the room after being on the phone again.

"Virgil's dead," he said with concern in his voice.

Sylar lifted up his head with a questioning look, "Peter killed him?"

"No…Lazarus did. Her and Peter are now on the run from the cops…One shot her in the chest and other people witnessed her ability. But this means if we're going to do this we need to go now before word reaches here."

Sylar sat up and in doing so he accidently hit the tv remote which turned on the news.

"There is chaos in New Orleans today as unexplained events have triggered serious injuries and many have fled the busy city in utter panic. This video was shot just moments ago…a man appears in the middle of the street and disappears, causing a motorist to crash her car into a restaurant. Also witnesses have reported seeing a young woman setting buildings and cars on fire…it is unclear how she is able to do this. For more on this breaking story we go to Jeff who's live right now at the scene."

Sylar and Noah watched with their mouths open as they saw Virgil's people using their abilities out in the open. Not only that, but they were causing chaos all over the city and outside their hotel.

Noah could tell that behind Jeff stood one of them and next to her was Natasha.

"We are going to show the world what we can do. No longer are we going to hide in the shadows and pretend we're nothing but freaks." Omara smiled into the camera and looked at the reporter named Jeff. "You're going to tell them Jeff, tell them that people with extraordinary abilities are out there, tell them all to come out and reveal themselves to the world. Today we are free!"

Her persuasive abilities worked with ease on Jeff as he retold everything word for word. Omara smiled again as she handed Jeff a gun and told him to shoot an innocent man walking on the street.

Noah cursed and paced the room, "It's too late to stop it. Cat's out of the bag now."

Sylar shook his head, "what did we do wrong? This wasn't supposed to happen…I was supposed to stop Virgil and prevent all this. There has to be some way to cover this all up."

He shrugged, "I don't know. But maybe your son had it wrong. Either way we need to find her before it's too late." Noah put them back on track.

Sylar tried to stand up and did so in pain. As he walked toward the door he started coughing and covered his mouth with his hand. Upon moving it away he caught the sight of blood and quickly rubbed it away on his jeans not wanting Noah to see it. Sylar knew he was getting worse and he wondered if they'd be able to fix it in time.

Noah wondered if Sylar going with him to track down Natasha was good idea.

"You better stay here. I'll find Natasha and bring her here," Noah didn't allow any time for Sylar to object as he left the hotel room and quickly headed to Bourbon Street.

Sylar was a bit relieved once Noah had left and he sat back down on the nearest chair. Pulling out his cell phone he dialed their house number and pressed send.

"Kate…How are you two doing?"

Kate answered the phone; already she had been anticipating his call since watching the news coverage of New Orleans.

"I'm just worried about you and Caleb's doing fine. How are you? I'm watching the news; this isn't good Sylar…what happened?" There was some panic in her voice.

"Not sure. Virgil's dead…That might have something to do with it. We really don't know," Sylar paused to cough some more.

"Who was that coughing?" Kate asked knowing it couldn't be Sylar.

Sylar moved the phone away just a bit. He didn't want to tell her, he didn't want to worry her…but it was part of his reason for calling her.

"Kate…if something happens to me I want you to make sure Caleb stays on the right track. I don't want him making the same mistakes…"

"Stop it!" she shouted into the phone, "tell me what's going on Sylar!"

"It's complicated, but there's a chance I might not make it," Sylar closed his eyes and rubbed his forehead. "Noah is trying to track down the woman that did this to me and undo it."

Kate was getting worried and frustrated, "Complicated? Might not make what? Baby, you're scaring me. Tell me exactly what happened."

"This woman, her ability…it's got something to do with taking your life force, your soul or whatever…The body can't regenerate it or its effects on me. It's been so long…it feels strange to have a fever…to cough…" his voice faded out as he was about to mention his weakness.

Kate looked around the house, "we're coming out there right now."

"No!" he quickly replied. "It's not safe here. Look Kate, I'm going to be fine. Believe me when I say I've survived worse," which was partly true.

"Fine," she sighed heavily but was still thinking about going. "Just wish I was there with you…we've missed you," she managed to smile looking over at Caleb.

"Missed you too," he chuckled. "After today things are going to be different. Things will either turn to good or bad. Don't worry so much about the bad, we're tough…we can get through anything they'll throw at us."

Kate's eyes went back over to her television. "I know. I think it will get bad…but eventually things will get better again, they always do." There was some lingering doubt in her voice but she tried to be somewhat hopeful.

"I gotta go…I'll talk to you again soon alright? And stay home; I don't want you out there."

Kate laughed at how protective he was, "Alright…I'll be here. I love you honey, we'll be thinking about you."

"Love you too Kate, give Caleb a hug for me."

Sylar found it difficult to hang up. Once he did he put the phone on the table and laid back down on the couch feeling tired. As he laid there he focused on his hand and generated some small sparks…he hoped Noah would be able to pull this off without him.


	10. Chapter 10: Who We Are

Chapter 10: Who We Are

**Streets of Manhattan- Peter and Lazarus**

They ran for a mile through lower Manhattan as they dodged police cars and officers on foot that were chasing after them. Finally they came to a stop behind an Italian restaurant to catch their breath.

"You're a good runner, was difficult to keep up with," Pete gave a short laugh after gasping for air.

"Treadmill. Two hours a day seven days a week," Lazarus smiled.

"Serious? Damn, that's amazing. I used to go jogging in Central Park on my breaks from work, but…lately I've been kinda busy."

Peter looked around and checked to see if anyone appeared to be looking for them.

"I think we might be alright. Best we change our clothes and lay low before we head over to the Company. They have a pretty good idea of what we look like, but it's nothing a baseball hat can't fix," Peter started walking her to his apartment.

"So your ability…how exactly was I able to heal you? I didn't feel anything," Lazarus followed close.

"Well I can touch other people that have abilities and replicate them. The problem is I can only have one at a time. I'm not always sure I know how it works, you know? Sometimes I do it with the intent to have their power, like for a mission or something. Sometimes it happens without me even knowing it. When I was in the hospital, lying there, I kept having this strange dream…it kept repeating itself over and over. Same thing happened to me a couple years ago when I first discovered my ability. This time…in the dream I saw you. I saw my mom and Toby there. You were going to help me and then run out, kinda like you did."

She looked at him strangely, "Really? You _dreamt_ that? So you could almost be whoever you wanted. How were you able to dream about me coming to the hospital though? We've never met before."

"My mom," he answered, "She has the ability to see the future in her dreams. That's how it happened before. I guess I somehow replicated it while I was unconscious."

"Oh…I remember Noah saying something like that, your mom had a dream about me and that's why I'm a free woman now," Lazarus threw up her arms and looked to the sun.

"A free woman?" Peter hesitantly asked, not sure if he wanted to know what she meant.

She smiled at his reaction, "I've…been around some. I started out at Rockland in Orangeburn; then I ended up at Westchester for his behavioral health treatment, but the day before Noah showed up they were ready to transfer me again to the Bronx Center. I swear if you're not crazy…those places can make you go crazy. I had forgotten what it was like to sleep without the sound of constant screaming."

Peter was initially shocked. He was familiar with the places she named as psychiatric treatment centers because working as an EMT, often times they were called out to transport patients there.

"If you don't mind me asking…why were you there? You don't seem…"

"Crazy?" she finished his sentence and laughed. "I did something bad in the past and I don't regret it. They think I'm traumatized from what happened to my parents. We were robbed…and the man killed my parents and shot me. I must be one lucky bitch though 'cause my abilities manifested that night. There was a lot of blood, but the bullet wound healed and I didn't die. All I could think about was revenge. I went after him, I found him, tortured him a little, but I believed he deserved it. I had a lot of anger for what happened to them and to me," Lazarus lowered her head a little. "The cops found me on the street and had me institutionalized. They were clueless bastards; keeping me on enough drugs that could put grizzly down. I guess I could have left anytime I wanted…but honestly there really wasn't a place for me to go. Then helping you…I never thought my ability could actually be used to heal someone else."

Peter listened closely. He wasn't always the one to judge someone on their first impression or how others perceived them. He already knew a little about her from what Claire had told him when she met her at the Company. So far in Lazarus he saw a good person, just confused and probably was traumatized from watching her parents murdered and then surviving because of her regeneration. He could see why she would be a suitable partner for Noah on missions.

"I knew a man once with the same ability. His name was Adam Monroe. He must have been 400 years old or something like that. I almost helped him destroy the world…he tricked me into helping him release this virus, but he told me he wanted to destroy it. Luckily I saw the truth before it was too late. I've made some mistakes and have done some bad things too Lazarus. Power can make people bad, like Adam. He knew he was invincible and he wanted to kill millions in order to become some hero. I don't think you're like that."

"You don't? But…you hardly know me Peter," she entered his apartment building and stopped at the stairs. "I've wanted that stuff. I wanted to kill them all for the simplest reasons…for stupid reasons. I am invincible and I can kill. People are already think I'm crazy, and that I can't be helped. Why don't I just own up to it? That is what I am. I have this ability for a reason and I should have fun with it. Use it for justice…for revenge. Peter the world is going to change and we've been given a gift to change with it. This is who we are, we can't run from it….can't deny it….we can only use it to our advantage. There will always be someone out there more powerful than you and if you want to survive you have to take them down before they do."

Lazarus's thoughts were lingering on Natasha and what she was able to do to Sylar. Until then she really thought she was invincible, and still did in some sense because she had a plan to take Natasha down.

He shook his head and led her up to his apartment, "You can't think like that, it will break you down. I've fought villains before and they never find satisfaction in following their desires for destruction and revenge. I understand that we have to change, but that doesn't give us the right to murder." When he opened the door he remembered the mess, "Sorry for the…mess." Peter was almost as shocked as Lazarus when he saw the state his apartment was in.

"What the hell went down here?" She walked in and tried to navigate her way inside to find somewhere to sit.

"Like I said…I've done some bad things and I regret them. I got angry, I got depressed and it consumed me. These abilities give you power, you get more of it, it grows until you can't control yourself anymore and you lose touch with those that care about you."

"We'll that's a simple fix; no one cares about me," She sat down on the kitchen counter.

"You know that's not true. I care about you and Noah cares about you, right?"

"You're wrong. I read Noah's notebook when he was out. He's been taking a lot of notes about me and I was curious. He thought it was a bad idea for me to be his partner on this mission. Also he thinks I'm not being honest with him…which I guess is true. Mainly he says that he doesn't trust me and just talks about all the things he thinks are wrong with me. I'm sure he'd be delighted not to work with me any longer."

He sighed, "Noah is a difficult guy to read. It sounds like he cares about you, maybe more than you want him to. Now I owe you for saving my life. I may have only known you for an hour or so, but I know you saved a strangers life. In my book that makes you a hero," Peter smiled.

She looked around conflicted. "If I'm such a freakin' hero then why do I have the urge to kill?"

"That's your way of fixing things and dealing with problems. Take Virgil for example…was killing him really the right or only decision?"

Lazarus was silent a moment as the scene in front of the hospital replayed in her mind. "I don't know..." she answered in a soft voice looking at the floor. "Honestly…it was instinct. I just did it. Virgil was the guy we were after and I had a chance to take him out so I did it. I guess I could have done something else…."

Her fists tightened and Peter noticed something was wrong with them. At the same time Lazarus could feel raw pain coming from her hands.

"What's wrong with your hand?" he called it to her attention.

Lazarus held up her right hand to examine it as she held back the urge to scream. Her knuckles were exposed down to the bone and her skin was peeling away from the muscles that were degenerating. She hopped off the counter in surprise, causing her to feel a little lightheaded but Peter kept her steady.

"It hurts like hell. What do you think is going on?" She asked him.

"I'm…not sure," Peter watched her hand get worse as it had spread down her arm. "I've never seen anything like this happen before."

"How do I make it stop? Oh my god it's burning…Make it stop!" Lazarus shouted in panic.

There was no real explanation for what was going on. Never had he seen someone with regenerative powers begin to develop wounds on their own. However, Peter was noticing that she was really starting to freak out and she needed to stay calm.

"What's going on with me? What's doing this? Why isn't it healing?" Lazarus looked at her hands trembling in fear. "This has never happened before."

"Let's try calming down. It seems like the more freaked out you get the worse it becomes," Peter put his hands on her shoulders. "Look at me. Look at me. Deep breaths. You're gonna be fine. Now close your eyes and try not to focus on it."

As Lazarus did so her body began to regenerate again.

Peter watched her a moment as he tried to think of the possibilities. He wondered if Lazarus's ability was changing…that maybe not only was she able to regenerate herself, but also degenerate.

When she opened her eyes Lazarus noticed the pain and her wounds were gone. "Peter how do you explain that?"

"Well I'm no geneticist or anything…but I have seen people's abilities where there is a different side to them you know? Lazarus you can regenerate…your body does it without you even thinking about it. A few minutes ago when you started thinking about what happened back at the hospital your body started degenerating. Intense emotions, you know?"

She looked at him a little confused, "Then why hasn't this happened before?"

"I don't know, maybe it just happened. We should go back to the Company now…maybe they have some answers."

Lazarus nodded and stared at her hands in fear, afraid that it would happen again.

There was a loud knock on the door just as they were about to leave.

"This is police! Open up Mr. Petrelli."

She looked at him and Peter moved away from the door. Someone must have been able to identify him from the hospital.

"Fire escape…go!" he whispered and pointed to the window.

Peter was cursing to himself; he should have known better than to come back to his apartment. Quickly he followed her onto the fire escape and they were back on the run from police as they made their way to the Company.

**Bourbon Street, New Orleans- Noah Bennet**

People were running past him in fear and panic, screams were just as loud as the cries of pain. He was searching for Natasha and he knew she was out there somewhere. It wasn't until he ran into people not screaming that he realized he was close to her….they were emotionless and some had already fallen dead. Walking over he inspected them: they had blood coming from their eyes, nose, ears, and mouth.

"Well that's interesting," he said backing away.

Natasha wasn't even aware of what she was doing, for she was simply following the orders that Omara gave her. It was simple…kill as many people as you can with your abilities. Nothing else mattered. Their goal was to show the world just how powerful they were.

Noah's hand was on his gun inside his jacket. Luckily he noticed her rushing through a crowd of people, chasing them down like runaway chickens and watching as they fell to the ground from her soul taking touch. The people would stumble back to their feet, feeling something was gone but they couldn't tell what. Their symptoms looked a lot like Sylar's: growing weaker and weaker, dying from the inside out. However, these people weren't of his concern at the moment…he needed to reach Natasha and reverse what she did to Sylar.

As he got closer to Natasha, Noah noticed a familiar blank look on her face. This sort of thing he had seen way back Primatech. Eden. He remembered the distant look her victims always seemed to have after she persuaded them to do things. Noah took out the dart gun slowly…If Natasha had to be persuaded to do these things then there was hope, but he needed to get her out of there.

When he had a clear shot Noah took it, striking her in the back and then she fell forward. Noah picked her up and carried her off to a shop a few streets down. After a few minutes she started coming to.

"Where am I? Who are you?" Natasha rubbed her head in confusion and struggled to get on her feet.

"Natasha, I'm Noah Bennet. Now tell me, what do you remember right before waking up here?"

"What?" She gave him a strange look, but as she started to think about it…she had no idea how she got there. "I don't know…the last thing I remember was being in Harvey with the others. Why? How did I get here? Did you…kidnap me or something?" Her confusion was starting to turn into suspicion.

"Those people…they are up to no good Natasha. Now listen to me carefully….They are killing hundreds of innocent people out there using their abilities. The world is watching right now and they are seeing a bloodbath out there by people that claim to have extraordinary abilities. Do you have any idea what this means? It means my daughter will NEVER have a normal life…you will never have a normal life. All of you will be found out and targeted because of what is happening out there," Noah's fist was shaking in anger.

"What are you talking about? I think you've had way too much drink. My friends wouldn't do something like that. Why do you think they'd want to harm anyone? I don't want to live in fear and I want to be a better person. Virgil promised this for me and that's why I came here. I used to be a bad person and I've accidently….- but that's not who I am anymore. If anything I want to use my abilities to rid the world of evil people. Now goodbye," Natasha headed for the door.

"Your friends tricked you and Virgil lied. I've been on this case for some time now and this was his plan…he wanted the world to know about people with abilities and he wanted them to fear it. There was a woman I used to work with and she had this ability to persuade people to whatever she wanted and they'd do it without even realizing they were until later. Do you have a friend like this?" Noah asked.

"Omara can persuade people to like give us free food and booze. She'd never use it for something bad. But I still don't understand how you got this information...are you some kind of friend of Virgil's?"

He laughed, "Hardly. I work for a company that helps and handles people with abilities. By handle I mean deal with those that use their abilities for selfish purposes that threaten the way we live and secrecy to the world. Omara used her ability on you most likely. I found you on Bourbon Street taking innocent people's souls."

Natasha froze, "What? No…you're lying, you're drunk or something 'cause you aren't making any sense! Why would I even…oh my god, that's a horrible thing to accuse! I'm leaving…" She headed outside the shop.

Noah quickly followed after her, knowing what lied just outside would come as a shock to her.

Once leaving the shop Natasha didn't seem to notice anything…until she turned the corner and saw thick black smoke reaching toward the sky. She took off into a run to see what was going on. What appeared there was a shock…it was a sinking feeling…it was like getting shot. Bodies…covered the street, the sidewalk, in their cars. Nat walked over to one of them and touched their cheek; she closed her eyes, but it was already too late. She turned to Noah who was standing close by.

"They're all dead. Did I do this?" Her voice shook and tears came down her cheeks.

Noah nodded, "Your abilities seem to effect those with abilities differently. These people died not long after you took their soul, but you took my friend's soul and he's still alive."

Natasha stepped away from the body, "You're friend is still alive? How is that possible?"

"It must have something to do with genetic mutation, but yes…barely, which is why I came to find you. It's important you help him…we are going to have a war on our hands and it's important that we have someone like Sylar."

"Sylar? SYLAR is still alive? Why should I help him? He's a murderer! He tried to kill me and I wanted to put an end to his killing spree," She folded her arms across her chest.

"He was. He said you came to him for help, but that Virgil had a hand in how you perceived him. Virgil got to Sylar in Los Angeles. He's not a killer anymore. Sylar has a wife and a newborn son. I wouldn't work with killer Natasha; you just have to trust me on this. We need to hurry before it's too late. Trust me Natasha, just come with me and see for yourself."

Noah took out his phone and called Sylar back at the hotel. He let it rang till it went to voicemail. Then they tried calling the hotel room phone, but no response either.

"Damn it!" Noah cursed and started running toward the hotel.

Natasha stood there thinking on it. She couldn't trust this man at all, but he knew Sylar and where he was. Looking around her the streets were empty, so she followed Noah hoping to hear what Sylar had to say about what happened in Los Angeles.

"What did Virgil do to Sylar?" Natasha yelled as she tried to catch up.

"Virgil wanted Sylar to join his team, but when he refused he used him to convince you to join him. I know there is evilness still inside Sylar, but he has something to live for now, something to keep him grounded."

"Oh," Natasha had no idea he had a son. She was starting to realize that Virgil wasn't the man she thought he was, nor were his friends. It felt horrible being betrayed and taken advantage of like that in order to cause so much destruction and death. Now she only hoped Sylar was still alive so she could make it right again.

When they entered the hotel room the television was on and Sylar was lying on the couch with his back towards it.

"Sylar?" Natasha called to him but he didn't move.

Noah went over to him and checked his pulse, "He's still alive."

Natasha knelt next to the couch and touched him. "I've never seen someone go this long without a soul…He could have brain damage or nerve damage. I don't know," she told Noah.

Sylar opened his eyes and saw her, "I'm sorry," he whispered, "I shouldn't…"

"Shouldn't have what?" Natasha asked.

"It wasn't me that tried to kill you. Virgil did something to me. He knew I was coming there to help you. He had to..."

"Shhh I understand the truth now, I know it wasn't your fault," Natasha cut in.

When she removed her hand Sylar appeared to be healthier.

"Thanks," he said to her.

"I'm just shocked you weren't dead already. I've never seen anyone live that long….and you've recovered nicely," she stood back up.

"I can heal, that must have something to do with it. How is it out there Bennet?" Sylar sat up and looked at the television but his eyes were still tired.

Noah shook his head, "our lives are forever changed. There is no covering up what Virgil's people did and continue to do. We need to start worrying about ourselves now. Everyone is in New York heading to safety, but Kate and your son are not safe where they are."

Sylar agreed as the news report showed other cities bursting out in riots from people with abilities taking to the streets. He got on his phone and called her.

"Sylar? Please tell me you're okay?" Kate answered after the first ring.

"Yes. Honey I'm safe and cured," he gave a half smile. "But Kate I need you and Caleb to fly to New York. The others will be there…but it is safe and that's more important right now than what happened in the past."

There was some silence after her initial joy of hearing that he was alright. What he didn't know was that she had been crying and was completely stressed out in fear that he was already dead.

Kate didn't like being around the others, but they risked becoming a target because of what happened at the pier. She knew this well.

"Alright, we'll fly to New York. You promise to meet us there?"

"Of course Babe. Be careful alright?" Sylar's words were full of concern.

"You know I will. See you soon. Love you."

"Love you too." Sylar closed the phone, "She's going and expects me to meet her there. Let's go. This city is a lost cause."

Noah nodded, "Yeah…" he was thinking about Claire and what she said to him last on the phone. Noah was eager to have a talk with her once they got back to New York.

"Can I come with you guys?" Natasha asked. "I don't want to go back…and I've got no money to get home," she sighed in disappointment of herself.

"Was already in the plan," Noah grinned. "Let's pack up and go."

**The Dungeon bar- Marek, James, and Mercedes**

Marek and the others were enjoying themselves at the bar. New Orleans was a ghost town now that everyone who was smart enough got out and those that weren't laid dead on the streets.

"Omara…have you seen Natasha? She isn't showing." James answered returning from the door where he was waiting for her arrival.

"I don't know. She could be anywhere…persuasion only lasts for so long you know," she shrugged.

James pounded his fist on the table, and grabbed Omara by the neck, "What do you mean only for so long? Are you saying Natasha is out there somewhere? Perhaps running off to them? Telling them where we live and everything we can do? Or…maybe she's out there helping Sylar get back on his feet again. Virgil will have your eyes for this, you know?"

Omara gasped for breath and tried to kick him, and then she used her ability to make him let her go. She coughed and caught her breath before taking another drink, "She's just a girl. No one is going to listen to her so relax James. Besides…it's done. They already know where we live. Virgil is going to be too proud of what we've done to be worrying about some girl."

James laughed, "You better hope so darling."

Mercedes gave a heavy sigh and rested her hand on James's shoulder to calm him down, "What about Mary and Kim?"

"They're down by the levees last I heard," Marek replied before his phone started to ring. "Hello?"

"Hi, is this Marek?" a woman on the other end asked.

"Yes it is. Who is this?" he suspiciously asked.

"I'm calling from a morgue in New York, we have an unidentified body and you are the last person he called before his death." She tried to sound sincere, but it came across as strictly business.

"Virgil?" Marek's mouth went dry.

"Alright. I'm sorry about your loss sir. Are you his immediate family? The authorities would like to speak with them."

Virgil had no family but then…Marek felt like a brother to Virgil and that was enough.

"Yes…Virgil was my brother. What happened to him?" His tone got very deep.

"He was murdered in front of a hospital. The police have more information and you should contact them, they'll want to speak with you. The cause of death was a spinal injury at the base of his skull, death was instant. I'll be shipping him to New Orleans for you if that is where you wish for him to be buried."

"Uh, yeah. I'll give them a call…thank you." Marek ended the call and looked at the others. "Virgil is dead. It was murder. I'm going to see what they have in their report. Come on guys…we're going to New York. James, get Mary and Kim home."

Marek stood up and finished the rest of his beer. He knew there was a chance Virgil wouldn't make it back…but he was still taken by surprise, as were the others.

As they were leaving the bar, Marek and Mercedes were greeted by a large group of about twenty people. They ranged from teens to a man with grey hair.

"Who are you?" Marek looked at them all as they looked on in curiosity at him and Mercedes.

"Are you the ones in charge here? We saw what you guys did out there. We…want to help. See I have a power too," the young boy closed his eyes for just a moment then opened them, "You can communicate with computers…phones….anything like that with your mind."

He gave him a strange look, "You can sense what abilities a person has. That's handy. What about you?" he pointed to another man.

"Me? Uh…I can be invisible. See?" suddenly the man's arm disappeared.

Mercedes looked over at Marek, "Let's take them with us. You know we'll need strength in numbers when we go to New York."

He nodded, "come with us...it was my brother's wish to for the world to know who we are. He died at the hands of one of us and I vow today to not let him down and to avenge his and Isabel's death."

As they walked, Marek was starting to realize that a strong team was forming. All of them had these extraordinary abilities that were meant for battle…meant for war. This was what they needed.


	11. Chapter 11: Us Against Them

Chapter 11: Us Against Them

**The Company**

Peter and Lazarus arrived at the company and discovered Claire and Toby waiting for them inside. Peter could see the worried look on Claire's face before they walked in. He felt remorse and it was eating at him that he got her involved in this giant mess.

"Peter!" She jumped up and hugged him tightly, "Thank god you're okay."

Peter was feeling worse by the minute, "I'm sorry Claire…I'm just glad you're okay."

She didn't understand what he was apologizing for, but when she looked up she noticed something happening to his cheek.

"You're bleeding," Claire tried to get closer look at his wound but Peter turned away from her.

He touched his cheek and his fingers were bright red with fresh blood. There was some pain, but it wasn't really enough to bother him. Peter walked over to the elevator to see his reflection.

"Degenerating…" he looked over at Lazarus, who was still standing by the door. "Look, it's happening to me too. It's your ability. When I started to feel…"

"Guilt?" she offered.

"Yeah…guilt." He turned to Claire, "for getting you involved in all of this."

"Don't Pete; I'm not a little girl. I made the decision myself and I wouldn't have done it any other way. I don't understand…what does guilt have to do with your cheek bleeding?"

He shrugged, "I'm not sure yet…but I think Lazarus's regeneration abilities have an opposite effect when it comes to feeling guilt. Instead of the body repairing itself it begins to break down."

"What sort of guilt could she possibly feel?" Claire spat causing Peter to take a step back.

"It's got nothing to do with her Claire, it's her ability. This is really serious if it's not controlled."

"Oh really? Maybe she can take Virgil's place in level 5, since she killed him and started this whole war," with that she glared a Lazarus.

Lazarus rolled her eyes, "shut up, I did the world a favor…you're welcome."

Peter sighed and led Claire into another room to talk to her, "let it be Claire…Lazarus and I had one hell of a day."

Claire pulled away from him, "That's no excuse…before Virgil found me I was in my dad's office and I found her files…How can you trust her? How can anyone? She's killed someone Peter, before Virgil. Did you know that? Not only that, she wants to kill more. She's not one of us. I still don't trust her Peter, she's freakn' crazy!"

Peter shook his head, "you're wrong about her Claire. She saved my life back there."

"Only 'cause they told her to! Look at what she did to Virgil…snap his neck? Who kills like that? I understand Virgil was a bad man but that is NOT how we deal with people. They should return her to the cell they found her in…"

Lazarus stood in the doorway and heard the whole conversation. Something in her snapped and she ran into the room, charging at Claire. Lazarus pushed Peter out of the way and she and Claire flew across the room and into a bookshelf.

"What do you think of me now, bitch!" she yelled as she pounded Claire left and right with punches...making her a bloody mess. "Shut. Up. You. Ignorant. Self-centered…"

Lazarus ended every word with a punch and Claire was unable to fight back from under her. She channeled all her anger into hurting Claire, even though she knew Claire was indestructible and couldn't feel pain. That just made her the perfect punching bag.

"I'm going to hit you until you feel what it's like!"

Peter recovered and was about to pull her off Claire when a shot came from the doorway. It didn't take long for Lazarus to fall over with a dart in her back.

"Peter take her to level 5," Angela ordered and gave him the gun, "take this just in case."

Peter glared at his mother and picked Lazarus up after taking the gun. He quietly left the room and disappeared into the elevator.

Angela made sure Claire was alright then gave her a stern look, "You need to watch your mouth Claire…it will get you in trouble around here. I know you care about your father and Peter, but that does not give you the right to talk about one of my agents like you did. Lazarus is a fragile case and your little stunt right has set back her progress. Whether or not she is right for the company is not your decision to make, Claire. As for sneaking around and reading classified documents…I'm disappointed and your father will be informed once he arrives."

Claire tried to speak but Angela left the room before she could fight back with a response. She shook her head and wiped the blood away from her nose. It made her wonder if Angela was watching the right video…couldn't she see Lazarus beating her to a pulp? Claire looked over at the camera that was in the corner of the room and sighed.

**Level 5- Peter Petrelli**

Peter placed the restraints on Lazarus and the monitors as company policy stated. They were not alone down there….other men and women with powerful and destructive abilities were in their own cells.

"This isn't right…you don't belong down here," he sighed to himself in frustration.

He sat down in a chair and looked at her, "Claire is just protective of her father and doesn't see past that. Don't worry….I'm sure Claire will come around eventually, you just can't give in to that urge. I'll talk to her and Noah will surely talk to her, but you have to help too. I think when Nathan died Claire started to become very protective of Noah and you not having a father…she must think you're trying to take her's or something…" Peter gave a short laugh, "Or I might just be reading too far into it."

Peter squeezed her hand, "I still feel horrible about the girl in New Orleans. If I had to do it again I wouldn't have gone down there…and even if I did, I wouldn't have taken Claire or Toby. Doesn't matter now…what's done is done. Just like Simone…Isaac shot her because he thought she was me. If Isabel hadn't touched me she wouldn't have fallen backwards…or maybe that wasn't even it, maybe she saw Virgil dead?"

He winced in pain as his fingers were degenerating in his gasp. "I need to get rid of this ability before the guilt destroys me…"

Peter let go of her hand and kissed her forehead, "At least now you don't have to worry about anyone screaming…I'll talk to Angela and get you out of here, don't worry."

He left level 5 and headed to his mother's office to talk to her.

Once the lights turned off in level 5, a tear went down Lazarus's cheek. She heard what Peter had said to her, even though he wasn't aware of it.

Angela was waiting in her office for Peter to visit. "Come in Peter..." she said after there was a knock on her door.

"Ma, level 5? Lazarus only acted that way because Claire set her off. I probably would have done the same..." he admitted.

"You were there Peter…she wasn't going to let Claire go, so I did what I thought was best. I've warned Claire and it shouldn't be a problem again. But sit Peter, we have much to talk about."

He took a seat in a large chair and looked across at her, "Like what?"

"Things have been forever changed. Virgil's men in Louisiana have waged a war against the world on behalf of those with abilities. We've seen this coming from the beginning, but back then we were able to contain what happened. Everyone was so afraid that no one acted out against what happened at Coyote Sands. Then again at Building 26, we were able to locate most of those that the government had captured and monitor them."

"Most? So those like Virgil slipped under the cracks I guess?"

"Virgil was on Flight 195 and survived the crash and escaped. He met some people who also escaped Building 26 and they banded together. I guess you didn't read his file as carefully as you thought when you broke into it."

Peter gave a heavy sigh and looked around, "I guess…I just forgot."

"Well. Even before Virgil's death they started using their abilities out in public, so there wasn't much of a connection to his death. It's already gone global; the press in Sydney are even talking about it. However, if we had managed to capture Virgil alive, we might have been able to convince them to stop. Right now we're trying to get everyone on our side to meet in New York and then we'll devise a plan together to stop them before they destroy all we've worked for."

For the first time since Nathan's funeral Peter noticed Angela was visibly shaken.

"Okay Ma." He was about to get up and leave, but he then remembered something else he needed to tell her. "Oh…There's something else, about Lazarus. I think the lab should take a look at her ability…It's not just regeneration like Claire, there's another side to it."

Angela raised a brow and gave her full attention.

"When we were at my apartment I was talking to her about what happened back at the hospital and her hands…they started falling apart and they weren't healing; they were degenerating right down to the bone. Then in the lobby when I was talking to Claire it happened to me too, I think it has something to do with intense emotions."

Angela stood up after she received a call, "I'll let the lab know and they'll run some tests." She gave Peter a hug, "Get some rest while you can, I'll call you if I need you."

Peter didn't feel reassured about Lazarus's new ability, but there really wasn't much they could do about it. He left her office and walked down the hall…he wasn't tired so he headed to one of the suites to take a shower.

**Noah Bennet and Angela Petrelli**

After arriving he met with Angela while Sylar and Natasha rested.

"Where's Claire?" He asked her.

"She's here somewhere. She got into a fight with your partner earlier and I told her to knock it off. She's mad at me, but she hasn't left the building. Lazarus in level 5 if you want to get her side, but there's something you must know first. Claire went into your office and looked at her files. She seemed really upset about what she found and Lazarus over heard her conversation with Peter and reacted. I put her in level 5 to let her cool down and also to be tested for changes to her DNA."

Noah was a bit overwhelmed with all that Angela was casually telling him. "Claire apologized to me when she called. We had a disagreement about this and that's why I need to speak with her. But what's this about Lazarus's DNA? What do you mean look for changes?"

"Peter said there is also a degenerative component. I've seen it before in those with regenerative abilities…it's a recessive trait meant to thin out the herd." Angela folded her arms, "Luckily her aggressive nature has been a tool in preventing this destructive ability. Usually people with that trait don't live very long after it manifests. Paperwork is in the works if you don't want to keep her as a partner, her immediate use has expired."

Noah sighed and thought about it, he thought about the anger he saw in her at the hotel in New Orleans over his notes…he thought about Claire and her distrust in her. Everything around him was telling him to let her go, yet he couldn't do it.

"That's not necessary; I don't mind having her as a partner. She has potential and I think I can get through to her."

"Very well. If she becomes too reckless I'll have no other chance but to take her out of the field." She checked her watch, "Kate's plane should be landing soon. I want Sylar to go alone; I need you to stay here in case there are new developments. The team I had watching Virgil's group is giving me updates about their movements."

Noah nodded, he didn't want to go anyway, and instead he left to talk to Claire.

It was in his office he found her sitting. She was in one of his chairs with her head resting on the back with her eyes closed.

Noah went in and stood in front of his desk looking at her, "I hear you got into a fight."

Claire rolled her eyes, "No, your psychopathic partner jumped me. I didn't throw a single punch! I swear. Peter was there…he saw her attack me."

"Well there must have been some reason she attacked you. And for your information Claire, she is not a psychopath, you have been misinformed."

"Have I? I read her file, Dad. I know what it says about her and she killed Virgil! That should be reason enough not to let her out of there." Claire had sat up and wasn't backing down.

"Those notes are not a reflection of her…Yes she killed Virgil, but only because he threatened Peter. She acted on instinct," Noah wasn't sure what to say to her, since nothing was going to change her mind at this point. "Just don't provoke her, that's all I ask. Come here and give me a hug, I'm just glad you're alright."

Claire stood up, "you didn't care…" she left his office.

Noah took off his glasses a moment to rub his eyes. He then decided to head down to level 5 and talk to Lazarus.

As he swiped his card and walked in he saw the lights were already on and someone was talking. Noah held back a moment to listen…it was Peter.

Peter sighed, "I caught a moment of the news…they're saying that the president is going to give an address. This is going to be bigger than Building 26. I don't know…I don't think people are going to accept us, they're gonna fear us. I just wish Nathan was here, he'd know what to do. He probably could have talked the president and somehow make this go away. I think my mom saw this coming and tried to stop it, but I know she won't tell me what she saw. I have her ability now and I'm gonna see what she saw."

Peter rested his head and felt movement in her arm, he immediately sat back up. "You're awake?"

Lazarus opened her eyes, "Yeah…actually I did when you left earlier. I decided to get some sleep...since I can't exactly go anywhere." She pulled up on the restraints.

"Yeah sorry about that…" Peter started to undo them when Noah came into the room.

"Leave them be Peter…I'll take care of them. Could you give us a moment?"

He was a little startled by Noah, since he hadn't heard him come in. "Uh yeah…sure. I'll see you around," he waved to her before leaving.

"I think he has feelings for me," she mused.

Noah gave a short laugh, "I think he does. You saved his life…"

"So?"

Noah sat down in the chair, "well, maybe I'm wrong…maybe he saw something else in you. You're a smart woman, independent, athletic, fearless, and you've overcome a lot of hardship. I think Peter might admire that and see a bit of himself too."

Lazarus gave a half a smile, "You think I'm smart?"

He nodded, "yes, I do; which is why I want us to stay partners. Angela has given me the option to change and I turned down her offer. I heard that you killed Virgil because he threatened Peter. That's trust. I want to regain your trust. Are you willing to let me back in?"

She silently nodded. "How about we start with letting me go?" Lazarus was frustrated about the restraints she had become accustomed to in the psych unit. "Just tell Claire to chill out. She deserved the beating…besides…she can take it, she can heal too. I just…wanted her to feel what I felt, the pain of hearing her talk about me like that to Peter. I reacted. I know Claire must hate me more now…oh well, I don't care."

Noah started undoing the restraints, "Yeah, Claire can be a handful sometimes, but she isn't perfect Lazarus. I know she can heal too, but that doesn't give you the right to hit her. Just don't go comparing yourself to her alright? Now, Sylar and Natasha have gone to meet Kate at the airport, so we..."

"Sylar's alright? Wait…the chick that did this to him is HERE?" she interrupted him.

Noah realized he had completely forgotten to tell her, "Yeah. Natasha learned the truth about Virgil and it turns out she was tricked with persuasion to carry out his plans. We brought her back because we could really use her insight into how to deal with these people."

Lazarus bit her tongue. The whole thing sounded fishy to her and really she wanted to hurt her for what she did to Sylar…but now it seemed everything was cool, so she tried to shrug it off.

"As I was saying, we need to start getting people on our side…people we've dealt with in the past. One of Virgil's men is good with computers…so we need to clean everything out and store it someplace safe. I don't know how much time we'll have before they find this place and once they do, we can't be too sure they won't come to steal information. Strength is in numbers and they've already got fear on their side. Our database has locations of millions of people."

"So….what do you want ME to do? I'm not the phone type. I can do stuff with computers though. You guys have external hard drives?"

Noah nodded, "I'll send someone to help you. Try and be as quick as possible and I'll call if anything changes."

He led Lazarus out of level 5 and walked with her to the computer room since she didn't have an access card. "Here it is…don't cause any trouble," he gave a half grin.

As he walked away he used the PA system to call Peter to the computer room. Noah was trying to do everything in his power to keep Lazarus out of trouble and to prevent Peter from using Angela's gift to get ahead in the game. Noah didn't know what the future held…but it was best that way. Knowing the future often meant making irrational decisions, a connection that took him a long time to discover.

**Virgil's Plantation- Marek**

While the others had started to pack, Marek was figuring out a plan. Quickly he gathered them together and told them to leave their things behind.

"We're teleporting to New York. I think it will be the fastest route and flights have grounded anyway. It's the only way guys, I'm sorry."

His hand was on his cell phone waiting for "the" call. This call was important because the information was needed to make their first bold move against their enemy. In the meantime, Marek sat on the arm of a couch…just inches away from where Isabel's life had ended. His eyes looked into the void space as if she was still lying there.

His phone started buzzing and he answered, it was her.

"Hello?"

"Hey Marek, I don't have much time, so we need to be quick. I'm at the airport with Zero and they suspect nothing. I've got the address you needed." The woman proceeded to give him the address of the company.

"Good. No one here knows either. I got the full police reports on Virgil and we have our targets. We're going to teleport there now and do our thing while you're still away…I need you to remain in position because we'll see need you undercover. Call me with an update later; I need to know whose still standing."

"Alright Marek. It's done."

He looked at the others and gathered then around again. "Listen up! We're leaving now and in order for this to work everyone must be touching."

Marek waited while everyone quickly gathered around and joined hands.

"Alright James…get us there in one piece and at a safe location."

James looked a little nervous about transporting so many people at one time. He closed his eyes and concentrated all his energy into taking them to New York.

The moment he opened his eyes they were surrounded by oak trees that began to spin. James fell backward into Mercedes's arms in exhaustion. Blood dripped down from his nose.

"Are you alright babe?" She gently lowered him down to the grass.

"Yeah. I did it," he smiled.

"You sure did," she smiled.

Marek and the others were taking in their surroundings...it was Central Park James teleported them to.

"This will do. Now, I'm dividing everyone into teams of five." Marek pulled out a piece of paper from his pocket. "Each group has a leader you will be reporting to, that will then be reporting to me. Understood?"

The others nodded at him and paid close attention to who they were assigned to. There were four teams, each led by: Marek, James, Mercedes, and Omara. Original member Kim was in James' group and Mary was in Omara's group. Marek was sure to split companions because in times of war feelings should be casted aside and not impair judgment.

Marek looked at his group of four. There was Amanda, who could absorb and store abilities; Aaron, who could create illusions; and lastly Destiny, she had the ability of terrakinesis, which meant she could manipulate Earth. He chose this team in accordance to his purpose…it was a carefully thought out plan to make his first move against them.

"Let's start walking…" he told them after telling the others where to go.

James took his group to Times Square to start their wrath there. Omara's group was sitting this one out, so they stayed in Central Park and waited for word. Lastly, Mercedes's group headed underground to the subways.

"Destiny…this will be your show. There is a building I need you to bring down. Demolish it. Those people are responsible for what happened to your family and they hurt mine too. Now Aaron, I need you to create an illusion of the building for those outside. You said you were strong right?"

Aaron looked up at Marek, "Yes sir, I've created an entire town before. Masking the building will not be a problem; however, I can't control the sound of an imploding building. People will hear it."

"I know. I just don't want anyone coming to their rescue that's all." He turned to Amanda, "Now you are special, with a special task. I need you to bring me anyone that escapes. But I will be moving first to see if they have any information that would be of use to us. From what I understand they are networked to somewhere else…if we find that network we can get all the information we need easier."


	12. Chapter 12: A House Divided Cannot Stand

Chapter 12: A House Divided Cannot Stand

**The Company- Peter and Lazarus**

Lazarus rolled her eyes when she heard the announcement that Noah was sending Peter her way to help with the computers. She started working right away because it would take a long time to transfer documents with large files to an external hard drive. Also, she was trying to convince herself that she wasn't excited about having Peter's help.

Peter knocked on the door that was locked by security. At first there was no response, so he knocked again, "hello?"

Lazarus's jumped up from a computer and rushed to the door, "hey, come on in."

He chuckled seeing her a little out of breath and walked inside. Peter sat in an office chair and rolled over to where she was working. "So what does Noah have us doing?"

"Transferring files and deleting everything on these computers. He thinks Virgil's guys might try and get information about other people with abilities. Not too difficult."

Peter yawned, "Right." He turned on the computer next to her, "Guess I'll delete them once you're done with the file."

"Sounds good..." Lazarus said with her focus entirely on the computer.

There was a long period of silence in the room until someone opened the door. Peter was immediately suspicious and told Lazarus to stay there.

"Hi. I'm here to see Tina," A man in a white coat said to Peter.

He was carrying a pair of gloves and a box while he fumbled with little tubes clanging together in his coat pocket.

"Uh...right over here," Peter guided him to the third row of computers in the back of the room.

Lazarus drew herself away from the computers long enough to scowl at the man in the coat.

"Who the hell are you?" she snapped.

"I'm from the lab, here to draw some of your blood for testing," The man was not amused by her attitude and grew impatient.

She sighed and pulled up the sleeve of her shirt, "Make it quick buddy…"

He remained silent as he took eight large tubes of blood. When he reached into his pocket and pulled out a band aid he gasped at her arm.

"Guess you won't need one of these…" he said before putting it back in his pocket. "The results should be ready in an hour."

Lazarus was already typing away by then, but she murmured an "uh huh..." to make him leave.

Peter then heard someone else meet the doctor at the door and slipped into the room.

"Peter you in here?" Toby called out.

"Yeah, back here," Peter waved his arm.

"What are you guys doing in here?" he took seat over by Peter….it was clear that he was keeping his distance from Lazarus, but she ignored it.

"Transferring files and deleting them from the computers here. Pretty…dull actually. You hear anything?" Peter asked him.

"No man…just that people are starting to go back to New Orleans; they're saying that the town is empty, so Virgil's people must have moved on."

Peter looked visibly upset by this, "They're heading here…They might even be here and we don't know it. This is useless…" he point to the computer, "we should just destroy them all 'cause there's no way we're gonna be able to move everything in time."

Lazarus stopped working and sat back in her chair, "You're right…but I think it's worth trying. Every file we manage to transfer is one less person they'll be able to find."

Toby nodded in agreement and began to look more comfortable than he had been.

Peter was spinning around in his chair looking up at the ceiling, "They're coming for both of us…I guarantee it. They probably have an army by now…out there looking for us. And…" he chuckled, "the only ability I have right now is to dream the future, a lot of good that will do me."

"Really?" Lazarus sounded intrigued, "Well then can't you maybe dream and find out when they're coming? Or who is coming?"

"I guess…" Peter rested his head down on a desk, "let's see if this works...I don't know if I'm tired enough…"

Toby got up from his chair and walked over to the window to look outside. Lazarus continued to transfer files over and write down the names for Peter to delete when he woke up.

Lazarus smiled while looking over at Peter with his eyes closed. He was kinda cute and innocent looking as he tried to relax. She could tell Peter was starting to dream when his arm twitched and his body shook.

Toby was looking over and he caught sight of this and looked at her alarmed.

"Should we wake him?" he asked.

Lazarus was uncertain, "Maybe we should let him wake on his own; he might get mad if we stop him."

They agreed on this and watched on as Peter dreamed. Lazarus resumed typing as quietly as she could.

**Noah Bennet**

He got a phone call while he was walking to the conference room. It was Jen, one of the New York agents talking at a whisper. She told him there was a large group of people in Central Park. This didn't alarm Bennet until he heard one of the men matched Marek's description. They were heading in his direction now while another group followed behind. Jen was able to remain unseen from them as she could bend light; it was almost as if she was invisible.

Noah told Jen to follow Marek, but to be careful. There was only silence on the other end, so he figured she must have hanged up already.

He hurried down the hall with his cell phone still in hand to the conference room. Angela was sitting on the far side waiting for him.

"Marek is on his way. One of agents got a visual of a large group at Central Park."

Angela stood up from her chair. "They know our location?"

He shrugged, "she said they were walking this way. I think they might. There are three groups total, two coming this direction and the other staying behind in Central Park."

"Someone must have tipped them off." Angela got on her cell phone to make arrangements for them to move elsewhere. She stopped and looked at her phone, "There's no service. The cell tower must be down. Is the landline working?"

Noah went over to the table and picked up the phone. He looked up at her and shook his head no. There was no dial tone. This meant only one thing.

"We need to leave now," he said to her, "Where's Claire? We need to get everyone we can out of this building."

"She left here half an hour ago. I didn't want you chasing after her, but don't worry I sent someone to look after her." Angela revealed.

Noah glared back at her and left the room to find someone in particular…which was going to be hard since the intercom system was done.

"Have you seen Raphael?" He asked around.

Raphael was an agent on the staff, and Noah knew he was in house at the time. This man had the ability to teleport; Noah knew they might need his help to get to safety.

"Sir, you were asking for me?" Raphael asked as he now was suddenly standing behind him.

When Noah turned around the building started to shake violently, making them grab for the walls in order to stay standing. Ceiling tiles started to fall down around them.

"Take us to the next building," Angela told him as she rushed down the hall to them.

Raphael put his hands on each of their shoulders and they reappeared in an empty office in the building next door.

Noah went to the window hoping to get a view of what was happening, but everything looked fine. There was no smoke, no visible shaking, or any damage to the company building.

"Raphael, please go get the others? They're in the computer room." Angela commanded him, rather than asked him, but Raphael obeyed.

A few second later he reappeared covered in white dust from head to foot. He coughed as he started to breathe in the clean air of the office space.

"It's too late. The room is blocked, the building is collapsing," he managed to say.

"It's an illusion," Noah finally said out loud looking back out the window.

They watched in silence as a small group of people were standing in front of the company building. Angela moved away and started sobbing silently for Peter, Lazarus and Toby. There were others in the building as well, but none of them meant anything to her like they did.

Noah put a hand on her shoulder, "Don't worry, they're together…Peter would know what to do".

**2 Minutes Ago- Peter, Lazarus, and Toby**

Lazarus was trying to focus on the computer while Peter was still shaking in his chair asleep. Toby was watching him closely as she tried to finish up transferring the files.

"What the hell?" Lazarus rolled away from the computer with her hands up.

The computer started working on its own…opening a mass of files faster than any human fingers could manage. Toby rolled over to her computer to see what was going on.

"You're not doing that?" he asked.

"No…Can't you see my fingers aren't on the freakn' keyboard?" she responded to his dumb question.

Toby tried typing something, but nothing was stopping all the files from opening.

"Try turning it off," Lazarus suggested.

He bent down in his chair and held down the power button but nothing happened.

In her frustration, Lazarus jumped up from her chair and ran over to the power switch. She pulled the cord from the power strip and then pulled that out of the wall.

Toby was starting to get really freaked out, "uh…it's still on. How can it be still on? There's no power! Are you sure you got the right cord?"

Lazarus held up the cords to the screen and the computer, "Yeah I'm sure…"

"AHHHHHHH!" Peter flew out of his chair scaring both Toby and Lazarus to the point that Lazarus grabbed a chair for protection and Toby looked ready to fight.

"Peter?" She asked seeing it was him and not whoever was messing with the computer.

Lazarus put the chair down and Toby tried to calm down. Peter was gasping for air as he looked around the room in surprise.

"It hasn't happened yet?" he asked them with a wild look in his eyes.

The two of them looked at each other and asked at the same time, "What hasn't happened yet?"

Peter looked up at the ceiling as the building started to shake. "It's too late…He's already got the information...he's bringing the building down."

"Wait, what? Who's bringing the building down?" Lazarus held onto the desk for stability.

"Marek…the computers aren't working now are they?"

They both shook their heads no.

"He's got the information he needed. He knows we're in here, so he's going to bring the building down to kill us, or at least trap us inside." Peter looked around as the shaking was getting worse by the second.

Now the ceiling above them was starting to collapse. Peter tried to make a move toward the door, but it was already blocked from debris.

"Our only exit is blocked. Under the desks!" Peter ordered, pushing Toby out of the path of falling debris.

Lazarus looked around, "Can't we just jump out the window or something?" But when she saw the look on Toby's face she knew that was out of the question for him. She got under a desk across from them as the shaking was making her lose her balance. "Peter, give me your hand!" She scooted out from under the desk to reach his hand, "Take my ability…copy it...or whatever you do!" she shouted above the smashing of computer screens.

Peter understood this and tried to reach out to her, but she had to pull back. He took a risk and rolled his way quickly under her desk and landed against her.

"Sorry about that," he apologized and took her hand. "I got it."

"Toby...can you try and make it over here?" Lazarus yelled across to him.

She knew that if Toby didn't have their protection, he probably wouldn't be able to survive the collapse of the building.

Despite his instincts telling him not to…Toby inched closer to the edge of the desk that was protecting him. On the count of three he went to move.

It was just at that moment the floor beneath Toby collapsed…taking him down with it as he tried to reach out for her hand. His scream was loud enough for the two of them to hear as he descended two floors below.

Lazarus was about to jump into the hole after him. She wanted to help Toby desperately.

Peter pulled her back and held her tight in her arms. "No…you can't. We need to stay together," Peter whispered in her ear.

"We can't leave him behind! He needs our help!" she pleaded.

"It's too late." He held her tighter as he could feel Lazarus shaking in fear and crying in grief.

As the building was collapsing around them there were large clouds of dust filling up the room.

Lazarus started coughing, "Peter we're on the 23rd story!" she realized, "How the hell are we going to get out?"

"Shhh," he turned her around to face him and tried to protect her from the dust. "Don't worry about it, we'll crawl out together."

Peter looked into her eyes and leaned closer to her. Lazarus met his lips for a kiss that they'd share before everything went black.

Outside of the building and behind the illusion, Marek smiled as he could hear the building coming down with the accompanying screams of its occupants. Many people were able to escape the collapse, but they didn't stick around when they saw his team and what they were able to do.

Once the building was down there was a period of silence. The building's alarm system had triggered the fire department to respond. Marek was cursing this slip on his part, but he smiled at them when they arrived.

"Just a false alarm guys…some crazy person pulled the alarm, sorry for the trouble," he assured them.

The firemen believed Marek and left because nothing appeared to be wrong with the building.

Marek put his hand on Destiny's shoulder, "you did good kid. I'm proud of you."

Destiny smiled, but both of their attention went to Aaron who was struggling to keep up the illusion.

"It's okay, you can relax now," he instructed and the façade of a perfect building soon disappeared and a large pile of rubble was revealed.

They could already feel the immense heat from the several fires the collapse produced. There were some people struggling to free themselves from underneath large bricks, but Marek did nothing to stop them…they weren't who he was after.

"Fan out…Bring me Peter Petrelli or the girl if you see them," he instructed.

He had shown them pictures, so they knew who they were looking for. Marek was eager to find either one of them to finish them off right then and there…to be their judge and executioner.

People on the street were starting to gather at the building, making efforts to find the two murderers even more difficult for Marek and his team.

"Keep searching!" he yelled to them, prompting other people to start searching for survivors as well. Luckily he made sure all the phones in the area wouldn't work, so this prevented the firemen or any cops from returning for now.

Things were beginning to look hopeless as no one had been found through their searching. Marek checked his phone and realized he had a text from Natasha. It said that Sylar was on his way and there was nothing she could do to stop him without blowing her cover.

He started to look at his odds….he couldn't go up against Sylar; it would ruin all their plans. At the moment he decided it was time for them to leave it was already too late…he could see their car arriving.

"Everyone gather up!" He called out to his people.

"Sylar is here; we need to rejoin the others in Times Square. Let's hurry!" Marek led them away from the site, but they were seen fleeing by Sylar as he got out of the car.

Sylar held up his hand and managed to stop Amanda from moving. Destiny paused a moment seeing Amanda wasn't with her, but then quickly rejoined the others in an effort to escape.

He moved over to her once the others had disappeared. "What. Have. You. Done?" he growled at the girl who was sobbing in fear.

"Fine. Don't talk, we'll get all the information we need out of you one way or another."

He used his ability to pick up a small rock behind her and hit her over the head with it, rendering her unconscious for the time being.

When Sylar turned around he saw Bennet and Angela standing there next to Natasha and Kate.

"I see you've caught one of them. Good. We'll use her to find out what they're planning. In the meantime, Peter and Lazarus are still trapped under there. We could use your help," Noah said firmly as Angela was silent.

As the two men walked over the rubble Angela stepped closer to the girls. "I'll give you directions Natasha to where we'll be staying now. I want you to take Kate and her son there."

Natasha nodded and looked sadly at Amanda. She was glad the others were able to get away, but she feared what Amanda knew and might tell them.

She got the directions to the new location and started driving the car with Kate and her baby in the backseat. As soon as they were far enough away from the others she called Marek.

"I have Sylar's wife and child…what do you want me to do with them?"

Marek smiled on the other end. "Bring them to Central Park; I'll have a team there waiting for you."

Kate could hear the phone conversation and was quickly aware of Natasha's deception and trap. She tried to open the car door, but Natasha had locked all of them.

"Not so fast…you're going to cooperate with us or I will make you suffer. You heard what I did to your husband. I can do the same to you in an instant and believe me…you won't be as lucky as him," she warned.

Kate moved closer to the door in order to get as far away from Natasha as she could. She looked down at Caleb and sighed...if it wasn't for him she would have broken the window and escaped.


	13. Chapter 13: Out of the Ash

Chapter 13: Out of the Ash

**Central Park**

Natasha unlocked the doors once Omara was standing by Kate's door. Omara snatched Caleb from her arms as Kate was getting out of the car.

"I'll be taking that..." she announced.

Caleb started to cry and Kate turned pink in anger. She thought about using her ability to become invisible and take her son back…but she had no idea what these other people could do.

"I've done nothing wrong! Let me go!" Kate looked deeply into their eyes as she pleaded.

The others in Omara's group started to come over to see what was going on. There was Mary and there was Torrance, a former cop and had the ability to manipulate sound. In between them stood Dan, he was a shop owner that sold perfumes. Dan's ability was to excrete a variety of different gases of from his body.

They looked on at Natasha, Omara, and Kate with confusion and alarm. Caleb's crying was loud and constant, which increased everyone's level of anxiety.

"That doesn't matter now does it? This is war and we've taken you as hostage. Your people have something we want back…and if they don't give her back we kill the little one first. Maybe if you're lucky they'll reconsider and you'll live," Natasha explained to her.

Kate's jaw dropped open, "This is what this is about? Double agent…You lead them straight to the Company didn't you? Thought up some sad story…It's pathetic."

Dan stepped forward, "Why are we doing this? This isn't right. Let her go. We are NOT baby killers!"

Omara raised her brow, "is that so? I can make you kill him…I can make you do anything I want. That would make you the baby killer, not us."

He stepped back in fear. Dan regretted his words and decided it was best to stay quiet. Looking at Kate he could see the pain she was going through as Omara held the baby unnaturally in her arm.

Mary was shaking her head while looking at the grass, "this is wrong…Virgil wouldn't have asked for this. They didn't do anything to us."

Natasha squinted her eyes at the girl, "Neither did those people in New Orleans you killed…"

"I never killed or hurt anyone in New Orleans! That was not our mission! Our mission was to prove to the world we had power…extraordinary power. Since when did this become about killing?" Her voice rose and she spoke.

Omara and Natasha were silenced.

"Come on Dan…let's go" Mary said as she turned her back to the team.

He quickly followed her despite the threats from Natasha and Omara.

When Torrance ran to catch up with them Kate went invisible and attacked the distracted women. She tore Caleb out of her arms and ran as fast as she could out of the park to a taxi cab.

She breathed a sigh of relief as Caleb sucked his thumb and went to sleep on the car ride back to the Company.

**Underneath the rubble of the Company- Lazarus**

Her eyes were in pain as they opened and tried to focus on her surroundings, but there were none. She could feel sweat coming down her face. Was it sweat? Or was it blood? Lazarus's body shook as she began to realize what had happened and where she was.

"Peter?" she tried to speak but instead she coughed from the lack of oxygen and a metallic taste entered her mouth. She assumed they must have been separated in the collapse of the building.

Lazarus then began the painful process of digging her way out from under the rubble. The skin on her arms was itchy, smelly, and searing with pain as she tried to extend her arm. She noticed the skin was completely burned off and in the process of regenerating, but the heat of the metal around her kept burning it, creating the awful stench of burning flesh.

Not just her arms, but everything itched and hurt like Hell in the darkness. She knew she had to keep trying to get herself out because they wouldn't know where to look for her.

It was after her second break from digging that Lazarus was rewarded with the feeling of cool air above her….this had to be it.

Lazarus reached the surface of the rubble and quickly caught the attention of the rescuers. They pushed and shoved to get a look at her as she pulled herself out of the hot and dirty grave of twisted melting metal. No one rushed to help her, they were simply too amazed.

Her clothes were torn and full of blood stains. Her shoes were missing; revealing to the crowd her badly deformed and blackened feet.

While sitting on the ground she fixed her exposed bones that were in her chest and hip. Everyone gasped as they looked on and listened to the sounds of crunching bone. The fresh skin on her arms and feet gleamed in the sunlight as the burns regenerated, but her face remained featureless from the combination of dirt and dried blood that covered it. They looked at her as if she was a miracle…they had never seen anything like her. Lazarus emerged from under the building by herself and healed from her wounds. They began to clap and cheer into a roaring applause.

It nauseated Lazarus, as if she had performed a trick or a stunt. When she looked up she saw some young men holding up their phones, they had videotaped her the whole time.

Once her feet had healed she got up and made her way through the crowd. People were pushing to get a touch her bright skin and the dirty burnt pieces flaked away like ash. She walked over to where the others were waiting. She noticed Peter wasn't with them and turned back to look at the rubble were the people were still staring at her.

"I'm going to kill Marek…" she then moved past them as they remained silent. Lazarus looked up and followed the mass of helicopters that were zeroing in on Times Square…that's where he had to be.

Sylar sighed and was about to catch to her but Kate suddenly appeared from the back of a taxi cab.

"Kate?"

"Natasha fooled you guys…she's on their side. She threatened me and took us to Central Park where the others were. Let's just say their team is starting to fall apart…through the confusion I slipped away."

Noah cursed himself as they all began to figure out who led Marek and the others to the company. They all stood in silence as they had been betrayed.

Sylar gave Kate a kiss before he turned to helping the others find Peter and Toby. It wasn't much longer till Peter emerged not far from where Lazarus had. Sylar moved in quickly to help him up and keep everyone else back.

He too had a partially dirty and bloody face with torn clothes. His eyes remained shut as Sylar moved him away from the large crowd and over to where Noah, Angela, and Kate were.

"Lazarus get out?" he asked him.

"Yeah, just a few minutes ago. We're looking for Toby now," Noah answered.

Peter lowered his head and tried not to think too much about it, "he got separated from us…the floor collapsed and he fell two stories down…He didn't make it."

The others had a feeling Toby didn't make it through the collapse, but they were still going to search for his body.

"I'm going to go catch up with her…Times Square, I take it?" Peter said after he noticed the helicopters concentrated there.

"Peter I'm going with you…but I know a faster way," Sylar put his hand on Peter's shoulder so he could replicate his ability to fly. "Let's go."

The two of them took off to Times Square as Claire came running towards her father and grandmother.

Instinctively she hugged her father because she feared the worst when she saw the news reports showing the Company building collapsed and unrecognizable.

"I'm glad you're okay…" he whispered as he returned her hug.

"Same here…is everyone alright?" she asked seeing people digging through the rubble to locate anyone they could find.

Noah let go of her. He hated the bad news he was about to tell her. "Toby is still missing. Peter said he…fell as the building was coming down."

A cold feeling came over Claire as she looked at the rubble. It broke her heart…like it was literally being ripped out of her chest. He was gone. He was Peter's best friend and she thought about all the times he asked her out. He was cute…she enjoyed having him around even though she pretended to be annoyed by him. Toby was so strong! There was no way he was dead.

"I'll find him…" she said in a murmur and walked away from him. Claire was determined to find him still alive.

Noah could see the grief Claire was keeping inside. He wished a good life for her…one where she wouldn't have to worry about her safety, but also a life without those close to her dying. Noah followed to help her…he wanted her to know that he cared about her.

**Times Square**

Marek arrived in Times Square to see people screaming and running into buildings to hide. The scene reminded him of New Orleans, except this time there were more people and more press coverage from the air above them.

Mary was starting fires, Mike was raising cars from the street and tossing them into buildings, and James was teleporting innocent people high above Manhattan only to let them fall to their deaths. It was chaos…it was Hell on Earth.

No one seemed to notice as Marek and his team arrived to the center of the chaos. He gave his team instructions: "show the world how you feel about being persecuted and don't be afraid to show your true self."

His rhetoric fueled them…it made them angry. Every one of them had their own story…whether they had lost a relative because people reacted with violence to their uniqueness or they themselves had been targeted. Whatever it was, Marek latched onto it and filled them with hate.

Times Square was starting to empty out quickly as people realized help wasn't coming. Some still remained inside hotel buildings because they knew the streets weren't safe.

They met up at the center of the square and congratulated each other of a job well done. They were proud with the horror scene they managed to create and the fear they were able to direct back at the people. Marek told them about the destruction of the Company and the kidnapping of Amanda. He planned to get her back as soon as possible, but he needed more than just his team. He also planned to use Sylar's wife and child as bargaining chips…since last he heard Natasha was taking them to Central Park.

Lazarus appeared from behind an over turned taxi. They quickly noticed her and geared up to attack her, but Marek put up his hand

"How many more people are you going to kill before you realize what you're doing a big mistake?" she called out to them.

Marek stepped forward, "None of this would have happened if you hadn't killed Virgil…"

Lazarus smiled, "We both know that's not true…you were planning this long before I killed him. But it was my mistake to leave New Orleans without killing you."

He looked at her admirably, "is that so? I like your taste for violence…but do you really think you stand a chance here? It's just you against all of us. Now I know you're indestructible, but I've learned there's a way around that. First…I'd like to play a little game," now Marek was the one smiling.

She raised a brow at the challenge. "Bring it on then tough guy…"

He looked at his team and Destiny stood forward. She raised her arms up and the ground beneath Lazarus rose and broke apart.

"That's it?" she asked.

Lazarus ran forward, over the broken pavement and became airborne before Destiny could react with her ability. She was pushed to the ground by Lazarus's weight and punched so hard she lost consciousness. Nothing was stopping her...nothing was holding her back. Lazarus kept punching until she ran out of energy. She got up and she wiped her bloody fist on her already bloodied shirt.

"Next?"

Marek was beyond angry when he saw what she had done to Destiny. He looked over to Mike and he stepped forward…with a slight movement of his hand she was thrown against a taxi cab. His use of Telekinesis kept her pinned there.

"You're stupid," Marek grinned. "You can still feel pain can't you? Trust me...New York is gonna fill to the brim with your screams and drowned in your blood."

Lazarus looked back at him with empty eyes…she could see the hate in him that sprang from his loss. She was now at his mercy and began to realize that she deserved to feel his rage.

"Virgil was like a brother to me! You killed him! Senseless…selfish little devil is what you are! He did nothing to you! He wanted to help you...he wanted to help all of us," Marek growled.

She could feel her face starting to degenerate from her emotions. She wasn't just thinking about Virgil but also Toby. She brought this on Toby…he was innocent of all this. As were all those other people in the building. The sound of Toby's screaming in her memories shook her back to reality.

Marek walked closer to her intrigued by the growing wound on her face. "What's this? Not healing now are we?" He punched her in the face and kneed her in the gut.

Lazarus's body sank into the cab door and she fell forward to the ground when he ordered Mike to let her go.

Marek quickly continued his assault by kicking her in the back.

She coughed up blood and looked up at him with bloodshot eyes, "he wanted hell on earth..." she said with a broken voice.

He quickly countered her, "He wanted justice! We are superior…it's time we let them know it!" Marek kicked her in the head.

He opened his arms and looked around at the destruction of Times Square, "look what you've done!" Marek blamed her.

She tried to speak again but he kicked her in the jaw...leaving her unable to talk and Lazarus wasn't healing...she couldn't. It was the guilt and she couldn't face it. She couldn't let go. All she could do was take his beatings.

"Go ahead," he ordered calmly and a tall man walked over to them.

Lazarus suddenly felt a jolt that was soon followed by a paralyzing electrocution. Her eyes managed to stay focus on his the entire time as she faced the pain. Then when it stopped a woman stepped forward. She grabbed her by the throat with a hand that was engulfed in fire. It seared through her skin until she finally screamed, but there was no voice.

When she let go the burns remained…ones that made everyone but Marek and Kim look away in horror.

Lazarus laid limp on the ground...exhausted from holding in her pain. She finally looked away from Marek and down at her own body.

Peter and Sylar arrived shortly thereafter. Marek was glad to see Peter, but fear rose in him as Sylar appeared as well…but he managed to relax when he thought about their bargaining chip, he had something Sylar would do anything to have back.

Peter rushed over to Lazarus when he saw she wasn't moving on the ground.

"Hey…" He touched her shoulder and turned her over.

There was a sinking feeling in his gut as he looked at her badly beaten, burned and degenerating face. "Hang on…We're gonna get you out of here," Peter squeezed her hand and knew she needed to relax.

Sylar looked at Marek with a sly grin on his face, "You're going to wish you hadn't done that…"

Marek put up his hand, "now wait one second…I think you're the one making a mistake here."

He shook his head no, "I don't make mistakes…I'm not sloppy like you. 'Cause that's what you are, right? A sloppy replacement…At least Virgil knew when he was out of his league."

Marek's jaw hanged open just slightly, "I have your wife and child…I'll give them back to you…if you give back what belongs to me."

Sylar tried act like he was scared and conflicted, "Oh no….whatever shall I do now?" But he started laughing. "You did…have my wife and son, but sorry to be the one to tell you this…they escaped."

Marek looked at him suspiciously, "you lie."

"Go ahead…call Natasha up right now," Sylar folded his arms across his chest and waited.

As Marek dialed, Sylar looked over at Peter who was staying by Lazarus's side.

"Do you have the hostages?" he flat out asked Natasha, unable to contain his impatience.  
"Uhhh about that…she kinda escaped…while the others decided to quit. They weren't happy about us kidnapping a woman and her infant child. I'm sorry Marek I…"

"ENOUGH!" he shouted and closed to the phone and realized his fate was sealed. "You're right…"

"Of course I am…Now that that's settled I can end this…" Sylar raised his hands and James and Mary flew up into the air and into the windows of two buildings on either side.

"Our secret is out for good. The last thing we need right now is a group of idiots like you making a huge mistake." He walked closer to Marek. "You're going down…"

Marek looked around him, but his people were backing down in fear and defeat.

"Attack him! Is this what you want? They'll find all of you and they'll do to you what they did to Virgil…what they did to Izzy," he tried to reach them but they weren't buying it. Marek's people were beginning to realize that he wasn't as powerful as they thought he was…Sylar had the power to destroy them all in an instant, so they stepped away from Marek.

"Not so tough now are you? Not when your fire powers gone. What are you going to now Marek? You going to give me bad cell service?" Sylar mocked.

He was feeling defeat…he couldn't run, couldn't fight...he could only surrender, but he wasn't sure he could even do that. It was worth trying.

"Alright…I surrender," he sighed.

Sylar nodded, "good. We're turning you into the police…homeland security will have a place for you in a maximum security prison. Not even someone with your ability could get out and we'll make sure of it. The people need someone to blame for the terror…You better hope it stops with you and this doesn't go any further."

Marek nodded in silence.

There were also plans for some of the others in Marek's group, such as Natasha. They would eventually be found and monitored.

Sylar looked at the others left standing around, "Go home…go home and beg for forgiveness for what you've done."

When he said this they took off as fast as they could to get away from him and the city they terrorized.

Sylar looked at Peter, "Let's go back…and see how we're gonna do this."

Peter stood up, "I will, but I need to take Lazarus somewhere to heal first."

He nodded and took off out of Time Square with Marek back to the Company.

Peter picked Lazarus up and flew them to Lower Manhattan; Isaac's Loft was the only place he could think of that would be safe for them.


	14. Chapter 14: Promises We Keep

Chapter 14: Promises We Keep

**Isaac's Loft- Peter and Lazarus**

Peter laid Lazarus down on an old makeshift bed. It was left behind when Mohinder moved back to India after Nathan's death. The place was otherwise empty, dirty, and looked almost unrecognizable from the lab or from the loft that had once been filled with prophetic paintings. There was an underlying irony in bringing Lazarus here, but he had no other choice. He brought her through the same doorway he had seen Simone get shot in…and was now placing her in the same spot her dead body once rested on.

He searched the loft and found a small bowl he could fill with water. Peter took off his shirt and dipped it into the water. He pressed the hot wet fabric to her wounded face.

Lazarus was startled by the touch. "Peter?" she opened her left eye. "Where are we? Where's Marek?" she asked but it was hardly intelligible because of her broken jaw.

"A friend's place. Sylar took Marek away; we're safe now." Peter dabbed at the wounds again, causing her to hiss.

"It hurts…" she moved her hand over her chest, "here too."

Talking was painful, but Lazarus knew how to fix it. With both hands she moved her jaw back in place with a quick twist. It was better now…but it wasn't completely healed.

Peter frowned and sat the bowl down on the floor, "I wish I could heal you, but this is something you have to control. Let's try working through it this time…What do you feel guilty about?"

He thought that talking about it and working through what was troubling her would be helpful.

At first she was suspicious and reluctant to open up. She looked at Peter…he was waiting for her response, so she sighed and began to talk: "Toby…the pain I caused people like Marek. I've caused a lot of people pain in my past…and I didn't even know it. I never realized how what I've done could affect others…" she tightened her fist and looked Peter in the eye, "Is this all we're meant for? Do we have a purpose?"

Peter gave her a half smile, "I think we are meant for something more Lazarus. Something so extraordinary and I've seen it…by helping people on the job with my ability that otherwise would have died."

"Then how can I be important? Every time I feel guilt or remorse it's like I'm dying…It's killing me. I can't force myself not to feel guilty anymore for the things I've done and haven't done…I don't know why, I just can't."

"Look at me," he touched her face gently, "It's not your fault Toby died…I know you may think so and I know Marek must have convinced you it was, but don't believe it. Everything else is in the past now. You can't change it, no one can. Believe me, I would if I could."

Lazarus smiled through the pain, "I like you Peter, but…how long would you last with my ability? It sounds easy doesn't it? To not blame yourself?" She closed her eyes for a moment, "Look…I wasn't asleep when you visited me in that room at the company." She frowned, "You feel guilty too…you blame yourself just like I do. You're so strong Peter…and even you couldn't handle having this ability."

Peter sighed and put a hand through his hair, "That's not true...I'd find a way to control it. Which is what you need to do Lazarus, you need to overcome those emotions."

She closed her eyes again and reflected on the past could of days. "It's strange…'cause right now…since my parent's death…I've never been happier than I am right now. And I'm scared as hell about what's next, but helping you changed me…sorta. It's different now. I still feel it…the rage inside of me. It wants me to go back; it wants to kill Marek, Natasha…all of them! For hurting you…Sylar…Toby…because what if they come back? If they attack us when we least expect it?" She shook her head, "I can't deal with that, knowing that they're out there…I don't' wanna be alone…or in that place again. That place…couldn't write. Couldn't even shave my own damn legs without someone watching me…surrounded by people that drool. Peter, I never wanna go back there!"

Lazarus had tears streaming down her cheeks as her body shook from the images that rested deep in her memory. Peter laid down beside her and tried to comfort her.

"It's not like that. I'll work through this with you. People might come after us, but that's the risk of having these abilities, but you are never going back there. I promise."

The sun was emerging from the clouds and it lit the small space.

Lazarus looked at him to make sure he was telling her the truth. "You would do that for me?"

Peter leaned in and kissed her…she was stunned at first and stiffened up, but soon she leaned closer to him. He moved and placed an arm around her waist. As the two became more heated and involved Lazarus's body was undergoing a change. Her cuts were healing…bruising vanished, broken ribs mended, and the skin around her neck looked good as new. She could feel it…amidst the passion she was beginning to feel for Peter, she felt renewed.

He smiled as his hands traced around her neck, "you did it." When he looked up he looked through her dark eyes…full of secrets…full of a past he probably could never understand, but he wanted to try.

"Because you Peter…I think…I'm in love with you," she kissed him again.

"I love you too," he held her against his chest and rubbed her back.

**Angela's House**

Marek sat guarded, bound, and with his mouth covered in a bare room while the others talked in the next room.

"There's a level 5 facility in Texas, we'll put Marek there. We've got bigger challenges coming out way. There is a way to prevent this, but we're going to need help." Angela warned them. "There will be more like Marek and this company needs to find them before something like this happens again."

Sylar looked at Kate. He promised her they'd move on after this, but he saw the look Angela was giving him. His life would have to start all over…they couldn't go back to their home and now Caleb…he changed everything. He knew what he had to do.

"I'm sorry, but I can't help you. I made a promise to Kate and Caleb that I would be there for them. The only reason I helped on this mission was because you needed me. I know you guys can do this without me and I'm needed more with my family."

Angela smiled. She realized how grown-up and different Sylar was now. There was still something about him that reminded her of Nathan…an essence he still had of her son. Angela knew that he was still a killer deep down, but for now he was reformed...and she came to respect that. "You're right…we probably can. I need to make a few phone calls," she said before leaving the room.

Kate hugged Sylar, "thanks…I was worried you'd forget." She let go of him, "but…if this is really what you want to do, it's alright with me."

He shook his head, "no. It's not where I belong. I want us to be a family…I want something that I've never had in my life. I don't want to lose this opportunity Kate."

She nodded, "alright. You don't have to convince me." Kate looked over her shoulder at Bennet who was watching them. "I hate it when he looks at me…" she whispered to Sylar.

"Yeah…me too," he looked at Bennet and kissed the top of Kate's head. "Let's go check on Caleb."

As Kate and Sylar left the room, Noah and Claire remained.

Claire sat by the window looking down at the street. She was waiting for Peter to return. It crossed her mind to go looking for him, but she had no idea where he'd be. Being in that house gave her a trapped feeling she didn't like.

She could feel her dad was still in the room but her thoughts lingered on the image of Toby's broken body in the rubble. Not long after she started searching she found him. His eyes were closed and just a tiny drop of blood stained his lips. Toby's body was gray with debris. Claire wanted to help…she thought maybe somehow if she gave him her blood he'd be alright. There was just no way she could do it, not without an injection. Her tears had dropped onto his face, revealing his brighter skin.

When Noah put a hand on her shoulder Claire shook with surprise.

"Sorry…I was just looking out the window," she explained and turned toward her father.

"I know. I didn't mean to scare you."

"I'm sorry for the way I've been acting. Honestly. I don't understand why I've been so angry. I guess….'cause when I heard you were working with Lazarus I got jealous…and I'm so tired of the secrets again," she admitted and instantly felt a little better.

Noah had been thinking a lot about Claire since finding Toby's body and he decided maybe the safest place for her now was to be with her mother.

"I understand Clairebear. You're my little girl…nothing is going to change that alright? But I think you should stay with your mom for a while. She misses you and worries about you." Noah took a seat.

"I guess I could. Are you sure I can't help out around here? Maybe when I get back, or do something like that?"

He smiled, "Angela knew you would say that. Of course…I'm sure there is something we could use your help with, but you are not going into the field. I promised your mother that as long as you're with me you'd be safe. I'm not gonna lie to your mother again, I've learned my lesson."

She managed smile, "yeah she'd be pissed. Thanks dad," Claire gave him a hug.

**Isaac's Loft- Peter and Lazarus**

The two had fallen asleep. It was pure exhaustion. Lazarus had one arm across Peter's chest as she rested on her stomach with her head tucked under his arm. Peter's hair slightly covered his eyes and Lazarus's face remained hidden by her messy and dirty hair. Together they looked as though they had survived a nuclear bomb, yet they were peaceful in this rare moment of rest.

Just outside the loft there was a sudden commotion that woke Peter. He carefully got up to check out what was going on. He could see people were coming back into the city…some injured…some coming out of hiding from nearby buildings. And some of these people were heavily armed…it would be only a matter of time before things got out of hand.

"Hey…C'mon, we can't stay here," Peter placed a hand on Lazarus's shoulder.

She lifted her head and sighed, "How long were we asleep?"

"Not sure, but people are coming back into the city. We need to find the others."

Lazarus got up stretched…she caught a glimpse of herself in a mirror and walked closer for inspection. "Wow…that's me?" she touched her face because the woman looking back at her was so different; her hair was dirty, full of building material and dried blood. While her feet were black from walking on the street…her clothes told the story: blood stains, tares, and other stains she didn't want to think too much about.

She looked over at Peter. It brought a smile to her face seeing his bare chest…she couldn't hide it. "Alright…let's go."

The two of them left the loft and headed down the sidewalk. Peter was afraid of flying because of the suspicious glance from the man with the guns. He took Lazarus's hand in his and continued to walk.

"HEY! That's her!" a guy shouted from across the street.

Peter looks over at Lazarus, "just keep walking…don't make eye contact with any of them."

She stayed quiet and obeyed, but she could feel their heavy stares. It wouldn't be enough though…more people began recognizing Lazarus, as some saw her beaten by Marek, while others were at the Company after it collapsed.

"She's one them! Let's get her!" Various members of a growing crowd yelled.

Soon after, Lazarus was pulled away from Peter as they tried to capture her. Some jabbed her with pieces of broken glass just to see if she would retaliate, while others tried to pin her to the ground.

"Peter!" she called out as she tried to push them back, but more people took their place.

Peter was enraged as he lost sight of her in the crowd. He cursed at the people holding bloody pieces of glass. "GET BACK! You sick bastards!" "Give me your hand".

Lazarus found Peter's hand and he pulled her quickly to his chest before flying them off the city street.

"Are you okay?" Peter asked.

Lazarus laughed, "Yeah…Don't worry about it. Stabbing I can take easily…can't tell you how many crazy people have stabbed me in the past. Always managed to find some sharp object."

Peter looked down over what used to the Company building. "Looks like they're gone…Let's try my mom's place."

"Fine with me…this flying thing is fun. I like it when you do it though…had this other guy fly me to New York…talk about awkward."

When they arrived Angela's house things were quiet in the streets. In fact, the streets were empty. Lazarus got on her feet and pointed to the house…

"THIS is your mom's place?" she raised a brow.

"Yeah…pretty nice huh?"

She just laughed and followed him up the front stairs. At the door they were greeted by Claire. She gave Peter a hug and started crying. He became a little confused, but then he remembered Toby...his best friend, his only friend really.

"I'm sorry Claire," he whispered to her.

When Peter was beginning to choke up he moved away from Claire and started walking down the hall.

Lazarus thought about following him…since she really didn't want to be alone in the same room as Claire. After she took a step she decided to have a look around instead.

She walked up the stairs and smiled at the pictures of Peter and his brother. As she walked down the hall she saw a door closed with shadows moving from underneath. Lazarus moved against the door and her curiosity led her to open it. She walked in and saw Marek, he was facing the wall on the other side of the room and another man stood guarding him.

Lazarus smiled at the guard, "Do you need a break? Angela asked me to watch him if you needed one."

The lie worked like a charm…The man looked thankful and handed her a taser, "If he gets out of hand this will bring him down."

"Thanks," she tried not to chuckle and took it.

Marek started laughing uncontrollably behind his taped mouth when the man left.

Lazarus walked over and punched him in the face before he saw it coming. She glared into his eyes as he looked back at her.

"Now I feel a little bit better…I came here to apologize. I'm sorry I killed your friend Virgil. I did it because he was going to kill Peter and who knows how many more after that. Marek, you would have done the same if it was someone you cared about. You took out your anger on me…fine. I get that. I really do…"

Lazarus put her hands around Marek's neck. There was power in it…she could feel his quickening pulse as her right hand rose to his chin, while the other moved behind his head. It would be a quick and quiet death for Marek…to die like his evil friend did. She could make up some crazy excuse and say it was self-defense. Would Peter believe her? Would Noah? She knew Sylar wouldn't.

Marek figured out what she was about to and he stomped feet. He started shaking under her touch.

Lazarus pulled back just as Claire was entering the room.

"What the _hell_ are you doing in here?" Her voice was stern and her face was turning pink in anger.

"I…was just leaving actually." Lazarus left the room pushing Claire aside as she went quickly down the hall.

Claire turned and watched her. She didn't believe her…and almost wished she had caught her killing Marek, so there would finally be proof they couldn't deny. Once Marek's real guard returned she took off after Lazarus.

Claire saw her entering an empty office and followed. She closed the door after entering and locked it.

Lazarus turned her and was shocked to see Claire had locked them inside.

"I wanna know _exactly _what you were doing in there…" she ordered.

Lazarus folded her arms and sighed. "I went to apologize…for killing Virgil."

Claire shook her head, "I'm not stupid…I know what I saw."

"Never said you were blondie….geeze. You really got it out for me don't you? I think you were standing there by the door the whole time huh? Waiting for me to do something."

"What's your problem?" Claire asked surprised.

"Mine? No what's your problem? You're the one going behind my back telling everyone I'm some psycho killer that's gonna turn on you all." Lazarus took a step towards her, "I'd never hurt your dad, Peter, or anyone! I killed Virgil to protect your uncle. If that makes me a psycho killer then fine…"

Claire was still enraged, "What about that guy you tore to pieces? Who were you protecting then?"

Lazarus glared, "if someone killed your parents wouldn't you go after the guy who did it?"

Claire started backing down, "I didn't know…."

Lazarus nodded, "Of course not. And he killed me...but then I healed. It was the first time I realized I had power. Then I lost my mind for a few years…understandable right? I mean…my parents were DEAD and I was supposed to be dead, but I wasn't!"

Claire was beginning to understand Lazarus's actions, but one more thing still led her to believe she was right. "What about your doctor? He said you talked about killing people and causing them pain."

Lazarus took a seat on the desk. Claire was just asking her way too many questions and she didn't like it. But she was tired of having Claire on her back, "Yeah…I've had nightmares. Killing everyone in the ward and hearing their screams as they tried to fight me off. I guess that might make me sound sick…I know for a while I wanted out of there. It's horrible at those places. I started having those nightmares and I began to think maybe I did belong there." She sighed, "Claire…I'm just saying you've got nothing to worry about. All that shit in that folder you read…believe every word of it…if that's how you choose to understand people."

Claire sat down in a chair and it looked like she was about to cry.

"Are you alright?"

Claire nodded, "It's been a hard day. I have to bury a good friend of mine because of what you did…"

Lazarus rolled her eyes but a shiver passed through her body. "Look…I'm sorry about that. Toby didn't deserve that...you're right."

Claire became fired up again, "don't be sorry! I don't want anything from you."

She shrugged and decided not to say anything...instead she was focusing on the sudden pain she felt in her abdomen. The destruction had already begun again…

"Damn it!" Lazarus cursed as her stomach felt like it was on fire.

Claire looked up at with tears in her eyes, "What?"

Lazarus slid off the table and lifted up her bloody shirt and looked down. Claire gasped and jumped up from her chair.

"What is that?" she questioned.

She looked down at her exposed ribs as blood covered her raw muscles and streamed down thigh and leg.

"That's guilt…" she said before looking back up. "Leave…now…" Lazarus said in a threatening voice.

"Want me to get help or something?" Claire wasn't sure what to do.

"NO. Just leave. It will heal." Lazarus turned her back toward her and stayed that way till she heard the door open and close again.

Lazarus closed her eyes sighing heavily. Toby….why did she have to bring him up? The warm blood tickled her skin.

She went into a bathroom that was connected to the office and started cleaning up. Once her mind became more focused on that, she began to heal. Lazarus feared she would never get along with Claire, but maybe that was okay.

After taking a few breaths and calming down, Lazarus headed out of the office and heard everyone talking in another room. She entered to see Angela, Peter, Noah, and some other people standing there.

Lazarus looked at Peter as if to ask what was going on. He gave her an odd seeing fresh blood on her shirt and pulled her to his side.

"We are going to need a combination of efforts. Not only is the media involved, but we will also need to reach some peoples' memories. I've called these people here and they're going to fix this." Angela started.

Peter shook his head, "What do you mean? How is that even possible?"

Alyssa stepped forward, "She means we're going to be supercharged to use our ability to alter the memories of everyone who has seen the news footage. Eva here can use a satellite to broadcast on televisions around the world using her ability…I'm going to use my persuasion to tell them what they've seen or heard about on television of people with abilities was a hoax. As long as you guys are in the other room you should be okay, but I need David to supercharge my ability."

Peter was impressed. This actually sounded like it could work. "What about the videos on the web and the tapes out there of us using our abilities?"

"Well…not only was it hoax…but the workings of a special effects maker named Marek from Louisiana," She answered again.

"Alright…" Peter smiled.

Lazarus interrupted suddenly, "What about the people out there? All those people who saw what happened? Or the people that died?"

She turned to her and frowned slightly "You're right…my persuasion can't reach people who aren't listening to it," Alyssa looked to Angela.

"A telepath is already in Louisiana. He's calling together everyone who saw what happened and is going to tell them it was a giant fire that killed all those people. Then he's going to fly back to New York and tell them that there was an accidental gas explosion," Noah said after closing his phone. "He's the strongest telepath we've ever come across."

Lazarus tilted her head, "Is it really that simple? All those people…will never remember what really happened."

Peter took her hand in his and squeezed it, "It's for the best. Trust me, if people knew what we could do there would be a war."

Lazarus nodded; her eyes were fixed upon on the television.

Angela turned back and smiled at Peter when she saw them holding hands. "Come now. Let's allow them do their job so we can get back to our lives."

Peter, Lazarus and Noah followed out the room. She looked at Peter and wondered how many times they've done something like this, because it seemed so natural for them to arrange this.

**One Week Later**

"There's a man up north. Claims he can walk through walls…we better get there before he becomes part the wall by accident," Noah explained to Lazarus as she sat at her company desk.

He put the file down in front of her so she could look through it on the way there.

"Alrighty partner," she closed down her computer and grabbed the file and her phone.

As they walked down the row of offices to the front entrance, Peter was walking by. He put down a large box of files and approached Lazarus.

"You going on a field assignment?" he asked.

"Is that what it looks like?" she smiled as she teased him.

"Be careful babe..." he grabbed her around the waist and kissed her.

"Mmm. Please…I don't break easy," Lazarus kissed him back.

Noah cleared his throat after he looked at his watch.

Lazarus rolled her eyes, "He's just jealous," she whispered to him.

Peter laughed and let her go, "call me when you get back, so we can go check out that new place I was telling you about."

"Right. See ya Peter," She waved him off and followed Noah out the door to the car.

As they drove through New York the streets were packed with people. It was as if nothing had ever happened….the "gas explosion" was a fortunate accident as only a few people died. They said it could have been much worse…oooh if they only knew.

"Oh, a letter for you came today. It's in the file folder," Noah remembered.

Lazarus opened it up and saw the letter addressed to her with no return address. "Weird..."

When she opened it up there was a letter and a picture. She started laughing and flashed the picture to Noah, "It's the Gray family portrait."

As she read the letter she realized how happy Sylar was and hoped that someday she could have that same feeling.

Completed: June 15, 2010


End file.
